“When you’re perceived as a strong woman, you are not allowed to make mistakes, to be afraid, to feel weak – basically to be human.” 12 Weeks is a gem of a film, addressing social issues, societal and cultural attitudes, parental expectations, domestic abuse in love relationships, and an ongoing political upheaval in the Philippines.
by Nefeli Soteriou
See the feature-length film 12 Weeks on February 22 @9:15 PM at LOOK Cinemas (657 West 57th Street) as part of New York City’s 12th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Tickets now on sale!
“Writing the film was quite cathartic for me even though it was traumatic too, because I was literally revisiting incidents that I’ve experienced and observed.” – Anna Isabelle Matutina, writer/director.
In the Philippines, women are under pressure to reproduce and have children. Anna Isabelle Matutina, a versatile writer and director of documentaries and features is interested in making a difference by developing authentic stories. “In the Philippines, societal norms favor marriage to fully accept a woman as a mother. Although things are now more tolerant in our culture, single women and single mothers are judged. I started to develop the screenplay in 2017; I was close to turning forty. I was married at the time. The pressure from family and friends became so unbearable, that I detested having to attend family gatherings or even letting strangers know my marital status.
Many scenes I included were based on real life. While all these things about motherhood and the pressures of being a woman were going on inside my head, I also had a very close friend who was in her forties and in a difficult relationship with a very young guy. And then she got pregnant. She is someone I’ve worked with for years and I always admired her for her strength and courage. I couldn’t understand how she could break down because of a man. This happened while we were both working on an anti-authoritarian campaign where lives were at stake. Misogyny was in the daily news because of Duterte, our former president. If we can’t deal with the seemingly small, personal things, how could we deal with national scale challenges?
We don’t always make perfect decisions. It’s not just about one guy. Sometimes we do get overwhelmed and confused because there are so many things we’re supposed to do and put up with. When you’re perceived as a strong woman, you are not allowed to make mistakes, to be afraid, to feel weak – basically to be human. When men show weakness and vulnerability, they are applauded. When women do, we are laughed at. I started to unpack all these things via the screenplay, and all the contradictions that exist in our lives.
I figured, if I write from the heart, if it’s personal, the film will find its audience. Because that’s what I’ve always loved about film – discovering that you are not alone, that others have gone through what you have gone through or feel the same way you do.
I don’t like it when artists act like they have the answers to the world’s problems. My film doesn’t provide answers. I was hoping that by showing a different perspective, that it would spark conversations. I’d rather have all kinds of Filipino audiences to be the target audience. I was very pleasantly surprised when I found out later on that it also resonated with non-Filipinos. Because, 12 Weeks touches on many other things that people can relate to. A lot of times, we are not just experiencing one thing but many other things at the same time and they’re usually passed on for generations. And I thought, this is how I can show representation of modern Filipino women’s struggles.
I really wanted to emphasize the generational pattern, the cycle of oppression, which speaks directly to why I wanted to do this film. Because no matter how things have changed, things have remained the same, so to speak. The last scene was of Grace having just given birth to Alice back in 1977. Grace always reminded Alice how she too wanted to get an abortion when she was pregnant with her. And Alice always cut her off because she grew up hearing that from her own mom. And it was like a constant reminder of not being wanted, even though Grace had other reasons for always bringing it up.
Just to give some political context, in 1977, the Philippines was also under martial law under the Marcoses rule. And Mindanao, where Cotabato City is, has suffered greatly especially since the Moros, or the Muslims, have always been treated differently. During that time peace talks broke down between the Moro separatist group (MNLF) and the Philippine government. As Grace gave birth, there were actually sounds of distant gunfighting in the scene.
This flashback to the past has its similarities with the political climate of 2017. Alice wants an abortion, though it’s still illegal, she is privileged to find access. Then the war breaks out again in Mindanao and an authoritarian president declares martial law. These things just keep happening over and over again. And now, we have the son of the late dictator, Marcos, as our president. I felt it was important to underline the fact that these struggles, these problems are not new. We’ve been experiencing the same for generations. Why haven’t we freed ourselves from the cycle of violence and oppression?”
The filmmaking process is not the same in the Philippines. The film industry in the Philippines is quite small. Due to the influx of Hollywood and the unabated increase in ticket prices, local films have a hard time competing. Making films has become unsustainable. Filmmakers have been asking for years for the government to step in; the progress has been really slow.
It took just eight days to film 12 Weeks, after months of rehearsals online via Zoom. Because of the world’s lockdown, it took years to secure funding. The film’s Producer, Danzen Santos Katanyag, shares: “My production company, Digital Dreams Inc, has been on board since 2019. By 2021 we received a grant from the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the Cinemalaya Film Festival; other supporters backed out. Thankfully, we received equipment support from Reality Entertainment, a production company led by Erik Matti. It really takes a village to produce a film. We had generous support from co-producers and good friends. We also had an understanding team. Producing 12 Weeks was as humbling as it was fulfilling.”
“I’m not even sure that’s a thing, to cast in the Philippines”, Anna Isabelle Matutina explains. “I didn’t even hold an open call for auditions. I mostly relied on “vibe” or people’s energies. Casting was difficult because I knew 12 Weeks was more of a character study. A lot of the conflicts happen internally, so I needed an actor who could effectively translate that on screen. And the pandemic happened just as we started pre-production. A face-to-face meeting to rehearse was impossible, given that we had one of the strictest and longest covid lockdowns in the world.
Max Eigenmann and Bing Pimentel, who played Alice and Grace respectively, were the last to be cast. I wanted to have a real life mother and daughter to play those roles. We set up a meeting over zoom just to talk about the story and the characters, and immediately I knew I wanted to work with her. The fact that her energy transcended through the computer screen meant something to me. I was also so happy to find out that she really wanted to do the film. She is a mother herself and I knew she could dive deeper than I ever could as a writer, into her character. So it was an easy decision. Bing Pimentel was there during the zoom meeting as well. It wouldn’t be the first time they worked together in a film.
Claudia Enriquez who played Lorna was someone I met at a protest rally. We eventually worked together at an anti-fascist Artist’s collective. I knew she was a theater actress even though I’ve never seen any of her plays. But the experience of working with her was enough for me to know the kind of energy she would add to the cast. She was also excited to work with me as this was her first feature length film and she resonated with the story.
I’ve seen Vance Larena, Ben, in some films where he played really young roles. I thought he carried the films he starred in well. For all other casting, I chose filmmaker friends that wanted to help out in the film. I also had activist friends who became extras. The budget was a major concern in making the film. That’s why we mostly got friends who could help in any way. Even crew members became part of the cast.
Except for people falling asleep and getting into minor accidents, I can’t recall any unforeseen challenges. All the challenges we encountered were pretty much expected and not unusual in a Filipino production”.
Max Eigenmann, the lead actress, Alice, shares her own experience in the production process: “After months of meeting over Zoom and rehearsing online, it was finally time to meet personally for the first day of shooting. It just so happened that one of the first scenes we filmed that day was a kissing scene between Vance Larena (Ben) and Alice. It was the first time we met that day ever! The kissing scene truly broke the ice and made the rest of the shooting so much more comfortable!
Anna Isabelle Matutina, recalls a funny incident during the production: “One of the lighting crew was asked to switch off the television on cue during a scene; he couldn’t get it right. There was a point where instead of switching off the TV, he tripped and ended up switching off one of the lights. This was past midnight. Everyone on the set was exhausted. But we weren’t irritated. We thought it was funny that he couldn’t get the cue right. I actually ended up using the scene where he accidentally tripped on the light switch, because it added a dramatic effect to the scene.
Then there was also this deleted scene where Max had to scream “Fuck!” in the office. But it just wouldn’t come out as I heard it in my head so I had her do a couple of takes. And I would radio this to her because our sets are so small I was downstairs away from her. At one point, I asked her on the radio “are you happy with that fuck?,” which of course did sound so wrong on the radio and everyone burst out laughing.
For Max Eigenmann, Alice, the most challenging scene to shoot was the walk to the hospital. “As an actor, I found it extremely difficult to place myself in a position of being able to translate to the audience what Alice must have been feeling. I have never experienced a miscarriage before, let alone everything else she had to go through getting to that moment. It was a lot of self-exploring and I had to put myself in dark places just so I can do my best in sharing Alice’s story, and without saying a word at that! It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Truly, it was an honor to act as Alice.
For the filmmaker, the car scenes were the most difficult to complete. “Most of them took place at night, so sometimes we would be shooting until four o’clock in the morning. It was also a logistical nightmare since we were filming Guerilla Style. We had no budget to have roads closed for the shoot and the lighting was limited. It came to a point where I started to slur my speech because of sleepiness. It was also an election season and crew members had to run and cover up campaign posters by knocking on people’s houses and asking for permission.
Jules Katanyag, another Producer of 12 Weeks shares: “There were less than one hundred people that worked on the production; this number included all crew, staff, actors and drivers. We had a budget constraint. The collaboration process was very intimate. I believe that was an addition reflected to the raw, and personal energy of the film.
We used a Red scarlet camera and only one lens, a 24 or 25 mm, except for one shot where we used an 18mm. Offline editing was done at Digital Dreams Inc. Studio. The online editing was completed by Reality Entertainment’s Post Production partner”.
The filmmaker, Anna Isabelle Matutina brings a unique experience in developing a story for a film. “Sometimes it takes five years for me to write a feature film. Sometimes it takes years to do research on a documentary subject. Most of the time, for both mediums, the budget dictates the process. I’ve done short TV documentaries where we only had three days to research and shoot. I’ve done short films in one day. Narrative or documentary they are actually both fun.
When I do fiction, it’s always something deeply personal and this can be really heartbreaking and even traumatizing. With documentaries, I am dealing with real people. I am very much aware of how my presence affects these people and their lives. I get to go home and continue to live my own life while the people I just filmed continue to suffer. It’s something I sometimes struggle with, not being able to do more than just tell their stories. I think the huge difference between features and documentaries is that real life stories are told in documentaries. Making documentaries and narrative features differ in the setup of shoots. Both can be difficult. However, I do feel that doing documentaries have helped me tremendously in crafting the features”.
Nefeli Soteriou
Nefeli Soteriou’s background is in Film and Media Arts, Creativity Coaching with Coaching Psychology, Behavioral Coaching for Mental Health, and Education. With significant, real-world experience as a Life Coach and Filmmaker, she specializes in helping filmmakers with every aspect of the filmmaking life, from completing unfinished films to handling the stresses and pressures that they face.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 12th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 21-25 2024 in New York City and includes 82 outstanding films, a diverse mixture of animated films, documentaries, comedies, romances, dramas, horror films, music videos and web series of all lengths. Our five-day event is jam-packed with screenings and Q&A sessions at NYC’s LOOK Cinemas, six Education sessions/workshops and a variety of filmmaker networking events all coming to a glittering close on February 25 with our red-carpet gala Awards Ceremony.
Winter Film Awards is dedicated to showcasing the amazing diversity of voices in indie film and our 2024 lineup is 58% made by women and half by or about people of color. Filmmakers come from 23 countries and 41% of our films were made in the New York City area. 13 films were made by students and 26 are works from first-time filmmakers.
Winter Film Awards programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Promotional support provided by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment.
Visit https://winterfilmawards.com/wfa2024/ for more information.
