The Debut

I saw "The Debut" with a festival audience in Los Angeles that was mostly made up of Filipino-Americans. As a Caucasian, it was really touching to hear everyone laughing at the Tagalog jokes, and appreciative cooing and spontaneous applause happened when shots of Filipino comfort food were on the screen during a banquet scene! I was really moved, not only by the film's tender story of inter- and intra-cultural conflict, but by the realization that I'd never seen a film by or about Filipinos in America (or by or about any Filipino anywhere, come to think of it!). I hope this won't be the last! Special attention should also be paid to Conrad Cimarra, in the role of NESTOR. He brought welcome comic relief to the picture every time he appeared as the 'new arrival', fresh off the boat from Manila. Let Conrad's performance reinforce a lesson to all young actors: "There are no small parts. Only small actors." Conrad was HUGE in keeping the laughs coming and providing a much-needed balance to the film.

I must say I did enjoy this movie. Not so much that it had Filipinos such as myself in it , but more because it was about Filipino youth growing up here in the USA dealing with their own ideas vs their parents. Why the medical field all the time?

Yes, it did generalize the different types of Filipinos that I come across but the story was deep enough to for even my parents to enjoy. Being born and raised in a normal west suburb of Chicago I did sense the conflict that Ben, the lead, had in this movie. However, I never found it to be a stuggle in life due to my heritage. Also, this movie will give my relatives in the Philippines a view of my world that they never really see.

No, this movie is not Oscar calibur but I give it a thumbs up for effort and conviction...

Gene Cajayon was a young Filipino-American college student when he came up with the idea for a Filipino-American film that would eventually become "The Debut." Raised in Orange County, California, and attending film school at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Gene wanted to produce a film that allowed Filipino-Americans, both young and old, to see themselves portrayed on the silver screen. Enlisting the help of film student John Manal Castro, the two began work on the screenplay.

The journey to bring The Debut to the screen took eight long years. Gene relied on the support of grants and donations from the National Asian American Telecommunications Association and others. His producer, Lisa Onodera (of "Picture Bride" fame), helped with fundraising and making the film look more expensive than what it actually cost to make.

When all the funding was in place, Gene began assembling his cast and crew. He recruited veteran actors from the Philippines (e.g. Tirso Cruz III and Eddie Garcia) to play the parts of the parents and grandparents in the film. Gene cast young local Filipino-American actors to play the Filipino teenagers. The role of "Ben Mercado", a high school senior who struggles with his Filipino identity and family, is played by Dante Basco.

The Debut centers around Ben, a creative Filipino-American, high school boy who decides that he wants to go to art school to study animation. This collides with Ben's father's expectation that Ben go to medical school to become a doctor. The father, Roland Mercado, himself a postal worker, cannot understand his son's preoccupation with the arts and disinterest in Filipino culture.

On the night of Ben's sister's "debut" (or her 18th birthday party celebration), Ben's eyes open up as he learns from the other Filipino teens about what it means to be Filipino-American. He learns to his surprise as well, that his father used to play in a band back in the Philippines. Lastly, Ben meets a young Filipino girl that catches his eye and things start to heat up.

The Debut may indeed be the first Filipino-American movie ever made. Unfortunately, the film has not been picked up by a film distributor as of yet, so the producers have been showcasing the film around the country. It was screened in late October of 2000 at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival where it played to a large, enthusiastic crowd. It will also be screened in Hawaii in November 2000. One way or the other, Gene Cajayon will make sure that The Debut get seen around the country, either through a Hollywood distributor or through self-distribution. This is an exceptional film that proudly tells what's it like to be Filipino-American, and hopefully will pave the way for Filipino stories to make their way to the big screen.

Thank goodness for indie films! Are you are sick and tired of stupid formulaic, cookie-cutter hollywood movies? Then this is a film you want to watch. If you're Fil-Am or have friends who are, you'll going to enjoy this immensely. It captures so many little facets of the Fil-Am culture clash/identity crisis that so many of us go through. I've read & heard about the great amount of difficulty it took to make this film (my daughter attended a Union City, CA screening where the director was present) and I'm not at all surprised that Hollywood displayed no interest in producing or distributing a film about `minorities'-not enough white faces in the film to attract a mainstream audience, right?

Thank you, Gene Cajayon, for making this film, and I wish you the best in your career as a director. Robert Rodriguez and Spike Lee started out doing small films, so I really hope this catches the eye of the industry. Maybe a screening at the Sundance? Perhaps the best thing this film will do is kindle interest in young Fil-Ams about their heritage, culture and history.

Do did you know that:

• before the Vietnam War, there was the Philippine `insurrection' that claimed 100,000 Filipino lives

• the .45 was developed specifically to kill the Filipino `insurgent'

• the slang term `boonies' or `boondocks' used to describe a place located way out in the countryside originates from the Tagalog word `bundok', meaning `mountain'

Filipinos are bit more interwoven in the American social fabric than we realize, and with this film, we're a little bit less invisible.

Positives - My brother is in this movie. He's the Filipino guy with the white shirt and cream vest, listening intently to the conspiracy theory of Ben's cousin out with the tricked out cars. Side note: He also owns the Black CRX with the Red "Rush Factor" sticker on the windshield. The other nice things is that they did an excellent job of capturing the "you know you're Filipino when . . ." attributes. The film is quite funny and quite accurate.

Negative - While I let this slide because its the first fil-am movie, I'd like to see less ethno-centric films. Films where nationality isn't the focal point. I have the same complaint about most African-american films. Like say they made "The Fast And the Furious" but all the main characters are Filipino. The story itself could happen to anyone, it just so happened to happen to a Filipino. The other part is that it is too general, but again, since its the first, I suppose it was necessary.

Overall - an 8. For all its flaws, they were necessary for this film because one of the main objectives was to show what the filipino culture was, both the good, the bad and the typical. And my brother was in it. hah