“Chocolate Meat” is made of neither chocolate nor meat ““ something those familiar with Filipino food will understand. Not only is it the more palatable name of a traditional dish ““ the main ingredient is actually pork blood ““ but it is also the title of Justin Madriaga’s short film that will be showing at the second annual Filipino International Film Festival of Los Angeles.
Despite the presence of Filipino film festivals in Hawaii, Chicago and New York, until last year there had been no Filipino film festival in Los Angeles. After a difficult start, the nonprofit Filipino International Film Festival of Los Angeles has returned in a expanded form for its second year.
“We want to bridge Philippine cinema directly with Hollywood and highlight Filipino filmmakers, producers and writers by giving them a stage in Los Angeles,” festival director Jeff Saloma said.
Also featured are Filipino-themed films from Canada and the United States, one of which is Madriaga’s “Chocolate Meat.”
“It’s about a young father getting a visit from his half-Filipino son who is not well-versed in Filipino culture,” Madriaga said.
“It’s not only a chance to introduce his son to Filipino culture but also to hopefully try to bond with him through his culture.”
While trying to do so, the father introduces the son to his favorite Filipino dish, chocolate meat.
To lessen the shock factor of the pork blood dish, the food is introduced to children as “chocolate meat” instead, a name which also serves as a kind of Filipino inside joke, Saloma said.
“Whether you’re Mexican, Chinese or Japanese, families connect through food,” Madriaga said. “I wanted to have my young character connect through food because that’s how I connected to my culture when I was young.”
This film was Madriaga’s first entry into a festival. The festival includes everything from easily made short films to several music videos in an effort to support as many Filipino filmmakers of all levels as possible. Saloma said the inclusion of music videos was a sign of support for the recent surge in the number of Filipino-American music video directors.
However, the festival’s main focus is on independent films from the Philippines as opposed to mainstream films.
“There are big companies that can create films, so it has become a factory,” Saloma said. “They recycle the same stories, use the same people and there’s no realism to their stories.”
In contrast, independent films portray the Philippines and Filipino aspects of life more realistically, often showing the poverty and street life, according to Saloma.
“When we want to do a portrayal of the Philippines, we want to show what really happens,” Saloma said.
To show students the reality of filmmaking, the festival is introducing a youth program this year, called “From Story to Screen.” Invitations were sent out to students at local high schools and are open to all interested high school students.
The students will be taught how to write a short screenplay, use a camera and act in their short films, with a screenwriter, cameramen and an acting coach on hand for assistance.
“It’s really a crash course in filmmaking, so they have a little bit more of a hands-on experience than theoretical for how to put something on screen,” said Polo Munoz, festival producer.
The students’ one- to two-minute shorts will be shown at the festival, so they can get the full experience of film production and distribution, Munoz said.
In a continuation of the festival’s education and outreach efforts, a filmmaker panel will also take place. It will consist of Mike Amato, an independent film producer; Tom Draper, acting coach to Colin Farrell; and Alan Bailey, the former senior vice president and treasurer of Paramount Studios.
“We want to again give filmmakers the aspect and the acumen a filmmaker should look at when going into production,” Munoz said.
“We didn’t have a director on the panel on purpose. We wanted to focus on the business side, and for those creating content, to know what to expect.”
For the future, the festival organizers have high hopes for a stronger Filipino presence in cinema.
“The talent level is there, it’s in our blood, we just need an outlet for it,” Saloma said.