Italian Premiere | In Competition
Philippines, 2024, 91’, Filipino, English
Directed by: Antoinette Jadaone
Screenplay: Antoinette Jadaone
Cinematography (color): Pao Orendain
Editing: Ben Tolentino
Production Design: Eero Yves Francisco
Music: Rico Blanco
Sound Design: Vincent Villa
Producers: Geo Lomuntad, Dan Villegas
Co-Producer: Bianca Balbuena
Executive Producers: Dan Villegas, Antoinette Jadaone, Reign Anne De Guzman, Anthony Isais, Grace Mariel Isais, Claudia Diaz Cojuangco, Bianca Balbuena, Ian Monsod
Cast: Maris Racal, Meryll Soriano, Elijah Canlas, Annika Co, Jennica Garcia, Xyriel Manabat, Angeli Bayani, Rhed Bustamante, Angie Castrence
Date of First release in Territory: TBA
Abortion is still a contentious issue in the Philippines. Often talked about but considered taboo, abortion is criminalized in the Philippines, including abortion to save the life of the pregnant woman. Yet, there are ways and substances to terminate a pregnancy sold in the Philippines, some of which, as we see in Sunshine, are sold near Quiapo Church, one of the most popular churches in the country.
Distraught from the news of her sudden situation, Sunshine (Maris Racal) goes on to search for answers on what to do. She finds herself in Quiapo Church, sure of what she wants. There, she finds a potential answer: amid statues of an infant Jesus Christ and other religious items are bottles of menstrual stimulant, popular among those who want a quick way to stop a pregnancy. She is stopped by a little girl, who is posing both the good and evil resting on her proverbial shoulders. One minute, she is calling Sunshine a murderer for even thinking about abortion; the next, she is telling her to smash her boyfriend’s windshield after he ditches her when she told him about her being pregnant.
Sunshine frequently interrogates what or who an adult is. Can Sunshine make these big decisions at her age? Does she need more guidance, or can she determine her future on her own? She is surrounded by adults who claim to know better than her, yet have no better cause than to impose their own beliefs and morals on her – very much the way it is to be a woman now, especially in the context of a conservative Philippines, who, in the movie, takes in the form of a devout Catholic ob-gyn who reprimands Sunshine about her attempt at abortion.
“Do this for yourself, not for the judges, not for the audience,” her coach tells her during one of their training sessions. Nothing is worth doing for Sunshine than to train for the SEA Games and start the road to being an Olympian. She knows that her decision will affect the public’s perception of her, but, ultimately, she will decide on what she wants because it’s what she thinks is best for her, even though many people around her think otherwise.
In one scene, Jadaone sets up a faint but hardened picture of what it is to be a mother in the Philippines. Sunshine finds herself in the middle of a ward of what is likely one of the busiest maternity hospitals in the Philippines (an issue which the documentary Motherland by Ramona Diaz so astutely captures): Mothers share beds because there aren’t enough, resources are lacking, even the healthcare workers themselves. Their situations vary: some are uneducated about family planning (a Reproductive Health Law exists but lacks on follow-through and implementation), and some, like one of the characters in the film, are victims of violence who don’t have the right means to do anything about it (“Check up? That’s expensive.”)
Sunshine, in its taut running time, is a gripping portrait of what it means to be a woman in a world where everything is set up against you. In many of the film’s closeups, Racal’s face – her eyes particularly – depicts the horrors that her character has to deal with. Short on a stable support system, she has no one but herself. And maybe that’s already enough.
GUEST:
Antoinette JADAONE, director
Maris RACAL, actress
Antoinette Jadaone
Antoinette Jadaone may be a self-confessed rom-com fan at heart, but her initial short films hinted at indie-filmmaking sensibilities in terms of storytelling. Her first feature film is the mockumentary Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay, about the titular bit player whose face you can recognize yet remains nameless. In 2014, she would breakout with the romantic comedy This Thing Called Fate. After the existential romantic drama Alone/Together, Jadaone moved away from the genre and ventured into darker territory, such as in the crazed feminist thriller Fan Girl.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
2011 – Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay
2014 – Beauty in a Bottle
2014 – That Thing Called Fate
2017 – Love You to the Stars and Back
2018 – Never Not Love You
2019 – Alone/Together
2020 – Fan Girl
2024 – Sunshine