Ang director na si Q Allan Brocka ay pamangkin ng legendary director na si Lino Brocka.
Pero hindi niya nakilala nang personal si Direk Lino.
“Lino’s father and my grandfather were brothers, but I was never able to meet him.
“Well, I don’t know what the position is called but his father and my grandfather were brothers,” umpisang kuwento ni Allan sa panayam ng PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal).
Pagtuloy niya, “I always wanted to [meet him], so my father, I was kinda disconnected from him. When I was young, he was abusive, and [he] died when I was young. So my mother was not really connected with my family in the Philippines."
Alam daw ni Allan na isa sa pinakamahusay at pinakasikat na direktor si Lino, lalo na noong buhay pa ito.
“I am aware, it is overwhelming, and he is iconic. He has a legacy that has touched so many people and it can be overwhelming when someone comes to me and asks me about him. I make these little romantic comedies and he made these films that changed people’s lives.”
Ano ang paborito niya sa mga obra maestra ni Lino?
“I’ve only seen a few of them because I need the English subtitles. I really liked Manila by Night, I love that. And of course the first one that I saw was Macho Dancer 'coz it’s the most popular in the States.
“And I really liked that. I am also a queer filmmaker, [and] when I found out that he was queer and making these queer films, that was another thing that was just incredible to me, that there’s someone doing all the things I dreamed about when I first got into film, that I was related to.
“But I never had the opportunity to meet him, and one of the things I would love to do while I’m making this is to meet as many artists and actors who worked with him.”
childhood memories
Sa Guam ipinanganak si Allan, at Amerikana ang kanyang ina.
“Yeah, my mom is white, we were living in Guam because her stepfather, the only grandfather I knew on that side, is Chamorro, that’s why we’re living there.
“So we moved around a lot, and always came back to Guam when I was a kid. But then we moved away permanently when I was fourteen, and I’ve been living in the States since then.”
Habang lumalaki raw siya ay nasa isip niya ang mga taon na sana ay nakilala niya ang tiyuhin niyang si Lino.
“All the time! Yes, I think about it often, because I was… you know, just starting college when he died, I just got out of high school.
"Had I known and I knew that I wanted to be a filmmaker since I was a child, and people would sometimes say, ‘Oh, you have this uncle’, and I was like, ‘Oh I would love to meet him but I don’t know how.’
“Because we were separated and it was in college when I found out that he died, and also found out that he was gay. And I was like, how did this connection never happen? It’s wild!”
direk lino's legacy
Karamihan sa mga pelikula ni Allan Brocka ay tumatalakay sa temang may kinalaman sa LGBTQI+ community.
Bilang pamangkin ng henyong direktor na si Lino, masasabi ba ni Allan na kahit papaano, sa aspeto ng pagiging direktor ay may naging impluwensiya sa kanya ang namayapa niyang tiyuhin?
Pag-amin niya, “I don’t know, I mean I’m definitely inspired by his work, but I will leave that up to other people to see if there’s a touch.
“I wanna learn about how he worked and I don’t know if I will ever be that good. But I can only do my own thing, and you know, pay respect to him.”
Kailan siya unang naging aware na may tiyuhin siyang iconic director?
Pagbabalik-tanaw niya, “I remember my father and mother telling me I was a… I don’t know, really little kid and saying when I first said I wanted to make movies, I was about eight, barely knew what it was, but I want to do that.
“And I remember in Guam, I had a Filipino teacher in grade school, who said, ‘Oh, are you related to Lino Brocka?’
“And I said, ‘Yeah, but I really don’t know him,’ because my dad told me, that was it. So yeah, it would come up every now and then, but I… you know, I was a child in Guam, there was no Internet, I only know through word of mouth.
“And then it wasn’t until college that I really became… my first year in college, that I started connecting with other Filipinos in college, that I discovered what kind of impact he had and how big of a name he was. I didn’t really know until then, and then he died.”
making lgbtqia+ films
Umuwi si Allan sa Pilipinas nitong nakaraang Pebrero dahil may gagawin siyang isang pelikula, ang Love and Lockdown na kuwento ng isang transman.
“For casting, location scouting, meeting crew, so I’ll be back in April to shoot the film.
“I found several locations, I think we have some good options.”
Ilan sa mga pelikulang pinasikat ni Allan ay ang mga Eating Out gay films.
“My most recent film… so I made a series called Boy Culture, that was the sequel to the film I made Boy Culture in 2006.
"But the series is doing film festivals now and we have not found a place for it to release yet, so we’re working on that.”
Paano niya ilalarawan ang LGBTQIA+ filmmaking scene ngayon kumpara sa pagsisimula niya sa nabanggit na genre noong 2004?
“I would say… from when I started, it has grown massively. When I started, there were so few LGBTQ films and outlets for them, and so few characters, even on films and television.
“So the first Eating Out film, I made it because I wanted to see boys just trying to get laid, right?
"Like all of the LGBTQ films up till then was about coming out, having AIDS, just the struggle and the hardship. And to younger people, it made being gay seem like a horrible, terrifying thing.
“And it is, in some ways, but there is another side to it that is beautiful and uplifting and charming. And sometimes you get the boys, sometimes you fall in love, and I wanted to make a film about that.
“Now there’s films like that coming out every week, so it’s beautiful. I think it’s beautiful and amazing, and now there are LGBTQ characters in films and series that aren’t just about LGBTQ people, we are in all kinds of stories and I think that is also beautiful and amazing.”
Pero sa tingin ni Allan ay may kulang pa.
“Trans representation, there is so little trans representation, specifically trans masculine representation, which is one of the things I love about the script of Love and Lockdown.
“I have not seen a film with a trans male lead where he falls in love and gets the girl and they have a big kissing scene at the end and everyone is happy.
“The films that I have seen, while important, tend to be what the gay films were twenty years ago, dark and scary and focusing on the hardships.”
on love and lockdown
Magsisimula sa Abril ang shooting ng Love and Lockdown, na mas tatalakay sa romantic side ng buhay ng mga miyembro ng LGBTQI+ community.
“Yeah, it is a romantic-comedy.”
Bukod sa location hunting, nagpunta si Allan sa Pilipinas upang maghanap ng tunay na transman na gaganap bilang si Danny sa Love and Lockdown.
“Yeah, I think it’s very important that this character has to be played by a real trans person who’s lived this experience.
"And I told them earlier, it’s an opportunity and there’s so few opportunities for trans male actors, it would be wrong for me to give the opportunity to someone who’s not trans.”
Sa Amerika o London naman niya hahanapin ang aktres na gaganap bilang si Neisha na iibig kay Danny.
“She is an Indian-British, so she is a British citizen originally from India. So we would like to look here for someone, if there’s someone of that background, but we will probably be casting her from London.
“We will likely search for her abroad, but we will look here first if there are any actresses.”
Naniniwala si Allan sa talento ng mga Pinoy, kaya inilarawan din niya ang kanilang peg para kay Danny.
“He’s in his 30s, he should be relatable, good looking, yeah. But he doesn’t have to be like perfect-looking, he should feel real, someone that we could root for, someone who… when he is telling a story, we can see what he’s thinking as he talks.”
May intimate scenes raw na mapapanood sa Love and Lockdown?
“Yeah, it’s not so salacious but yeah they do. It won’t be like Eating Out, it won’t be that graphic.”
Nais daw niya na lahat ng gender ay maka-relate sa pelikula.
“Reflected in a way that is uplifting and even for people who aren’t trans, I want them to root for this guy. And in the end, when he kisses the girl and the camera’s swirling around, I want them to feel joy and to cheer for a trans man, and I think that hasn't happened in a film yet, and it’s time.”
Posible raw na isang first-time actor ang kunin nila.
“Yes, absolutely, there have been some non-actors that we have been reaching out to.”
Base sa tunay na buhay ang Love and Lockdown.
Pagkumpirma niya, “Yeah, this is inspired by a true story, true story that happened to a mutual friend of mine and the producer and the writer, and the producer thought this would make a great film.
“So we asked them about… if it can get adapted, they didn’t necessarily want it to be exactly about them. So they took the storyline and wrote a script, the script originally took place in Colombia.
“The writer and I are friends, as well as the producer, they sent the script to me and I read the script and I thought it’s a beautiful story.
"But I’m not trans and I’m not Colombian, and I thought it doesn’t quite… I think I would be the wrong director for this, but the story of this character really resonated with me and my own history and relationship with the Philippines, so suddenly I got this idea.
“What if we relocate it to the Philippines? And I was inspired, so I put together this look-book and I sent it to the producer and writer, I said, ‘What if we do it there?’
“They loved my take on it, we wrote the script and raised the money based on the look-book for that, and now we’re here."
Pagpapatuloy pa ni Allan, “It’s just the theme and the logistics of what happens to them. So in the real story, they went to Colombia and decided to stay there so that they could be together, because if they went back to their separate countries during the lockdown, they would not see each other.
“So that is it, just that part of it, everything else was added by the writer.”
Katuwang ni Allan sa pre-production at location hunting para sa pelikula ang production staff na sina Marinette Lusanta at Lili Esquillom.
Kasama sila noong nakapanayam namin si Allan nitong February 10, 2023, sa U Hotels sa Poblacion sa Makati.
Samantala, bago lumipad pabalik sa Amerika si Allan kamakailan ay nagkaroon siya ng pagkakataon, sa tulong ng showbiz reporter na si Mell Navarro, na makilala nang personal si William Lorenzo, na bida sa isa sa mga obra ng tiyuhin niyang si Lino, ang Macho Dancer.
Nakilala rin ni Allan sina Ricky Davao, Liza Diño, at ang awtor at film historian na si Nick de Ocampo.