A Peek to “Happyland”

I received a text invite from Mon, a fellow Titusian, last Thursday regarding a film shoot at UMAK (my first time to read such acronym which stands for University of Makati) this Saturday. It’s going to be for Jim Libiran’s second film entitled “Happyland”, a follow-up to his Cinemalaya 2007 best picture “Tribu”. Just a short background, my first encounter with the film was through its cute movie poster. I don’t know where I found it (probably Facebook) but I still remember the plot about the Tondo boys who learned to play football and will be slugging it out against the kids from upper class schools. I thought it’s a little trite but just the same interesting.

The venue was easy to find. It’s close to C5 area near Taguig-Makati border. Vans were lined up in front of the field entrance and the shoot was about to start when I arrived. I met Mon right away and secured my place on the grass while witnessing a supposedly football game with Tondo boys versus San Beda. Jim Libiran was on the helm while associate director Earl Ignacio’s voice was heard all over, giving instructions to the “actors”. What took place was some sort of a real football game. It was shot as is. I don’t recall any specific directive on footwork or positioning other than a piece of advice to cool down and take it easy because it was just a film shoot.

Before I left the place, I found out from Mon that the story is based on real life characters. It was a priest, a foreigner, in Tondo who taught the kids to play football. He was actually present during the shoot to supervise and probably to coach his team. If ever I’ll be given another chance to watch the shoot, I’ll try to get to know more about him and unravel the joys behind the inspiration.

Some observer shots here and a video here. Also, pictures from my side trip to nearby Makati Park and Garden here.