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Next Big Futures, the latest in the Big Future Series, features two interviews with a group of Filipino-American artists.
The interviews, conducted by actor, writer, producer, and director Joseph Yossela, focus on the artists’ personal lives, their favorite moments in their careers, and their thoughts on the future of Filipino American culture.
“I wanted to create an art film about Filipino artists that would reflect the people who make this country great, as well as the artists who make it so special,” said Yosselsa.
“The future of the country is in the art of Filipino artists.”
In the interview, Yosessela explains the inspiration for his upcoming film, and explains his decision to make it about Filipino Americans.
“When I first saw [the] Filipino-English film, I was so surprised that this was the first Filipino-language film ever made in the United States,” he said.
“It’s so inspiring to see Filipino artists being able to speak and talk to a non-English-speaking audience.
But I also had this idea that it’s a cultural artifact that belongs to the Philippines, and the United State, and that we should be proud of the Filipino-Americans who made it.”
The interview also explores how Filipino Americans have changed from being the minority group to a majority in the last 20 years, and why Filipino artists should continue to push their culture forward.
Yoscelas focus on how Filipinos have come to be successful in Hollywood and how the film will celebrate the Filipino American community.
“In the United Kingdom, there are a lot of people who have made films and movies that celebrate Filipino culture,” he explained.
“So it was important to me to make a film that celebrates the Filipinos that make this film.”
“I thought it would be fun to make something that was actually about the Filipino people,” Yosenthal added.
“A film about how Filipino artists are doing their work in the film business, and how Filipino American artists are getting to work in Hollywood.
It was a fun way to explore the Filipino Americans working in the industry, and to see how they were doing.”
“There’s something about being Filipino that’s like being an alien, and I thought that this film could really celebrate Filipino Americans in the entertainment industry,” he continued.
“And I thought this was something that would be relevant to the current cultural moment that is going on right now.”
In order to create this film, Yosenla and his team at Next Big have had to create a special set of materials and techniques to make the film.
The team started with a traditional, hand-cut cardboard cutout of a Filipino American.
This was then digitally manipulated into a more realistic image.
Then they added a digital camera and started capturing the digital image.
The film then was digitally processed using a digital process known as digital colorist to create the film’s look.
“We shot it in 4K and it looks very digital,” Yosena said.
But the film also looks like a natural looking film, with all the natural nuances and nuances of Filipino film.
“This film is very close to what it would look like in a real film,” he added.
The result is a film which looks like it could be an official US film, but is not.
Yosenas team created this digital film with a very natural look, and then added a few extra layers of digital coloring to make sure that the final film looks authentic to the original film.
As for the actual art of filmmaking, the team has gone back to the basics.
“For this project, we went back to traditional Filipino art to make this digital look, but we used a digital color and digital editing process to bring it into the digital world,” Yosselas said.
The production team used traditional Filipino arts, including traditional paper art, traditional cardboard art, and traditional paper cutouts, to make each of the characters in the movie.
“They were all hand-made, hand made by Filipino artists,” Yoshi told Next Big.
“You don’t get these movies these days that are made with these tools.”
The film is a unique collaboration between Yosseles team, and will be released on February 14, 2019.
“Every Filipino artist has their own style and their own way of making art,” he emphasized.
“Filipinos have always been a very creative people and we wanted to make that film with their art.”