Behind the Scenes of Transnational Film with Adult TCK CLAIRE MIRANDA

Despite transnational filmmaking potentially being a journey of challenges, some filmmakers still choose this genre to tell their stories. Hurdles include logistical issues of fitting a film into typical standards according to nation or region (elemental in most funding opportunities, inclusion into festivals and distribution requirements.)

Streaming technology has provided new opportunities, especially now that COVID-19 has necessitated changes in the cinema's immediate future. The first step, however, still is funding support, which is limited because co-production grants usually are for partners within the same continents. The international co-production funding opportunities that allow for intercontinental collaborations are often from Europe and do not include all continents. Another major hurdle, especially in working with investors, is defining a “main market” when the film's target audience is fluid or cross-cultural.

Claire Miranda is one those brave filmmakers who have chosen the transnational film journey (even with its inherent hurdles). She gives us a glimpse of the victories a transnational filmmaker has to win before projects can reach the screen for viewing:

CM: We’ve been working on a film project that explores Filipino American identity. The project has been in development since 2016 so it’s evolving in terms of format and the intent behind it. As you can well imagine, telling stories about identity has multiple inroads and invites all kinds of approaches and storytelling possibilities.

CM: The project has been a personal one to me, inspired by my mother’s work with diaspora Filipinos. Having grown up in the diplomatic community and having lived amongst Filipinos in Singapore, Australia, the United States and now here in my passport country (Philippines), I’ve had to confront my own reality about who I am in relation to other Filipinos and the rest of the world.

There are questions that have haunted me my entire life: • Who do we become when we leave one culture for another? • Why is it so hard to fit in? • Is identity something we can claim or decide for ourselves, or must we wait to somehow earn it from others? I feel these are questions I share with other TCK (Third Culture Kid) and diaspora Filipinos, immigrants and their families. While I can write (and have written) about these things in an essay or poem, there are stories that can’t be contained on a written page. A visual medium would allow us a much bigger space to tackle these themes, and eventually, a wider reach.

CM: Since 2016, we have been collecting footage, doing research, traveling for interviews and immersing ourselves in Filipino American communities. We’ve been on the receiving end of the generosity and openness of community leaders in Seattle, New Orleans, and Stockton in Calif., who have taken us into their homes and have trusted their stories with us. We’re receiving mentoring and guidance from Dr. Dorothy Cordova, a highly regarded, well-loved historian and researcher.

Often during the course of filming, we would be asked “where are you all from?” and “how do you all know each other?” Maybe because we’re such diverse group.

The truth is the core of the team is based in Manila and a few of us have been friends since college.

Our director and editor, who were at film school together in London, reached out to friends they’d made along the way. We handpicked our team not based on where they happened to be or where they were from: I was more focused on whether they were the best fit for the project. I knew I wanted a multicultural team, because a diversity in perspectives and experiences would enrich the collaboration process and the product.

CM: During filming in 2016-2017, our team consisted of four of us in Manila, a cinematographer from India and another, an award-winning Filipina filmmaker, was working in Portugal. Our photographer currently lives in Los Angeles. We all met, some for the first time, when we started filming in Seattle.

CM: The inconveniences of geography, if we could call them that, would be the same as any project or work endeavour, even if all of us were working in Manila: who’s available, who can allot months at a time out of their schedules to commit to one project. Travel costs would be another consideration of course and booking airline tickets from multiple locations. Luckily visas are not a problem for any of us and I hope that continues to be the case.

There are challenges inherent in the subject we chose and one of them is point of view: do I have the right to tell these stories?

While I was raised in the United States, have a deep cultural connection to the U.S., and my whole family is Filipino American, I often don’t feel quite equal to Filipino Americans who were U.S.-born, or naturalised citizens. So, I’m grateful that our stakeholders and storytellers have entrusted their stories to us. More than their approval of the work, there is incredible power in their recognition and acceptance of me as one of their own. That has been invaluable to me and to the team.

What has proven far trickier to resolve is the question of authorship: is this a Filipino project, or a North American one? These are current hurdles given the transnational nature of both the material and its intended market. When we go to source additional funding or look for partners, this question can pose some real challenges.

I have considered joining festivals, but the criteria interested in seeing this film produced help are often determined based on geography. For you tell these stories? example, a Southeast Asian or Asian film festival CM: Our social media presence is still being built would expect your entry be an Asian story, set in and updates are few, but interested people can Asia. Grant eligibility requirements also usually have connect with us on Twitter: @dreamlanddoc and geographical restrictions. Criteria are often based on Instagram @storiesfromdreamland

CM: Our intended audience is young people who are asking themselves “Who am I, really?” or “Who do I want to be?” So, it’s not limited to Filipino Americans Filipino but what we believe to be a multiracial, multigenerational audience. While this is a project for and about Filipino Americans, I feel the themes we want to explore will resonate with anyone who has grown up between cultures. The challenge is getting people to see that these stories from the in-between are important, and these voices must be amplified.

CM: Our social media presence is still being built and updates are few, but interested people can connect with us on Twitter: @dreamlanddoc and Instagram @storiesfromdreamland

This interview is dedicated to the late Dawn Mabalon, ground-breaking historian, scholar, community organizer, author of “Little Manila is in the Heart,” and co-author of “Journey for Justice;” and the late Lorna Dumapias, who unearthed stories of Filipino Americans in Historical Filipinotown Los Angeles through the anthology she co-authored, “Filipino-American Experience: the Making of a Historical Cultural Monument”

Mabalon raised awareness about the history behind landmarks in Stockton, Calif., U.S.A. while working with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which resulted in the official recognition of the area as Little Manila Historic Site. Thank you, for being grounded in your roots yet knowing how to make a rootless constant newcomer like me feel welcome and “part of the gang.”

Dumapias played a leading role in preserving the Filipino Christian Church as an official historical monument, now only the second listing in the National Registry of Historic Places related to Filipino-Americans. Thank you, Aunty, for helping me, the niece that neither grew up in the U.S. nor in Philippines, feel grounded by encouraging me to claim the Filipino-American community as my own.