Let’s talk about women who have guts – Filipina filmmakers are not scared anymore to speak up and show the truth through their films.

These Filipinas are no longer shy to be the only females in the room. What is important for them is to share their passion, their truth, their stories.

These Filipina filmmakers are breaking barriers, and making their presence felt all over the world, including Hollywood.

Below are some pioneering Filipina filmmakers:

Ramona S. Diaz

Ramona Diaz is an award-winning filmmaker whose work includes such memorable documentaries as Imelda, about the life of former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos; Motherland, a documentary set in an overcrowded and understaffed maternity hospital in Manila; Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey, about the band Journey’s new band vocalist Arnel Pineda; and A Thousand Cuts, on Fil-Am journalist Maria Ressa, founder and CEO of Rappler, Time’s Person of the Year 2018 and the first Filipino recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Asked what compelled her to make A Thousand Cuts, Diaz explained, “I knew I wanted to make a film about the Philippines under Rodrigo Duterte because it was alarming what was going on. I’m a Martial Law baby. I grew up under Martial Law and it seemed like, ‘Wait, what’s happening? We fought this already. This is a battle we won,’ so that’s what I wanted to do.

“It was key for me to really figure out the story of the Philippines right now, and of course, Maria [Ressa] then emerged because she was speaking so loudly against Duterte with Rappler and also talking about disinformation.

“It was all of these very specific issues to the Philippines but also very global. There is a very specificity of the story and also the universal aspects of the story that I thought would resonate beyond the Philippines.

“I’m always telling stories that go beyond the Philippines because my audience is here [United States]. I produce my films here and they’re always passion projects. I get obsessed, especially with people I film because I say that I make documentary films in order to experience all these things.

“I did Journey because I wanted to see what it’s like to be a rock star. I guess I made A Thousand Cuts to see what it feels like to be this beleaguered journalist who’s the object of the administration’s hatred.”

Diaz is a graduate of Emerson College and earned her master’s at Stanford University.

Isabel Sandoval

Isabel Sandoval is a groundbreaking trans Filipina auteur who became the first trans woman of color to compete at the Venice Film Festival when her film, Lingua Franca, premiered there.

She is a writer, director, editor, producer and actress.

She directed an episode of the upcoming FX drama series, Under the Banner of Heaven, which stars Andrew Garfield, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sam Worthington, Wyatt Russell and Gil Birmingham.

On how she managed to overcome the challenges of being a trans woman of color to work in Hollywood, Sandoval told us, “I think it has to do with having the audacity and the tenacity to show Hollywood that when underrepresented voices, minority artists and storytellers really take the reins and really take control over the stories that we tell about our communities, that art that we make is truly moving, powerful and transcendent.

“And it’s what I attempted to do with Lingua Franca, and I am just so pleased and grateful that it’s being received warmly by audiences around the world.

“I did not want labels to intimidate me. At the end of the day, I am a person, an artist, a storyteller. I believe in the validity of my voice, my experience which needs to be seen and heard.

“I searched out for support from people like Tony and Emmy award-winning producer Jhett Tolentino who is the lead producer of the film (Lingua Franca). I did not make this within the Hollywood system. I was helped by immigrant artists, and I had the privilege to work with these people.”

Born in Cebu City and a summa cum laude graduate of the University of San Carlos in the Philippines, Sandoval said that her films “explore themes of power and privilege and especially the difference, the power differentials between characters in my films.

“In Lingua Franca for instance, although it has the framework of a romantic drama, within the intimate romantic relationship between Alex and Olivia, because one of them is a trans woman of color and an undocumented immigrant, while the other is white and is an American citizen, the power that they now mix within the confines of that relationship, can serve as a microcosm of the political forces and indifference in the power of the people in America on a wider scope.”

Diane Paragas

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Paragas was selected as a 2020 Creative Capital Awardee. In March 2021, the Philippine Consulate General honored her with a Distinguished Filipino Woman in New York award.

She is best known for her award-winning debut narrative feature, Yellow Rose, and her 2011 documentary film, Brooklyn Boheme, which is about the African Arts movement that documented the careers of Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Branford Marsalis and Rosie Perez, and more.

“I never imagined I would be able to do this because it is hard to convince people to work in Hollywood especially if you look like this,” remarked Paragas about working on her film Yellow Rose which starred Eva Noblezada, Lea Salonga, Princess Punzalan and singer-songwriter Dale Watson as himself.

Paragas is also currently developing a feature documentary, The Three Lives of David Wong, which was selected for the Sundance Creative Producing Lab and won the CAAM Documentary for Social Change grant. It is a feature documentary about a wrongly convicted, undocumented Chinese man facing a life sentence for a crime he did not commit and his 20-year fight for justice.

Asked what her challenges were as an ethnic Filipina of color, Paragas replied, “I just kept on directing and that is also the advice I want to give to young filmmakers since rejection is part of Hollywood. I got it also.

“But you have to stay on course and if there is value in your story, someone will back you up and someone will support you. You have to constantly advocate for yourself.

“It is a Filipino thing to just do it ourselves. One thing I love about Filipinos is we just do it. If nobody does it, we do it. Filipinos are survivors. Like the Yellow Rose, Rose was told no but she kept at it. It is heartening that we are beginning to start our own Hollywood club.

“There are some great Filipino filmmakers out there like Isabel Sandoval, Ramona Diaz, and H.P. Mendoza, among others. We have friends and allies who are part of our community. It is a white Hollywood out there and they have had their own club forever. It is good that we are supporting each other. We have our own support system and somehow, it is good we are creating our own club.”

Marie Jamora

Marie Jamora, a cum laude graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, with a master’s degree in film from Columbia University, has helmed several TV shows like The Cleaning Lady, Good Sam, and All Rise.

She is also the first Filipino director to be accepted into the American Film Institute (AFI) directing workshop for women and is also on the faculty of AFI.

She has her own production company called Indie Pop Film and they are producing an LGBTQ+ Filipino-American rom-com.

On what challenges she encountered as a woman of color, Jamora said, “When I moved to LA in 2013, it was really a different time when there really weren’t a lot of opportunities. Actually, none. It was in self-financing work and people who are champions, like Stage 13, which is a Warner Bros. company.

“They asked me to do the pilot for Family Style, which is an unscripted food and pop culture show. That started opening more doors for me as a director and as well as AFI’s directing workshop for women. Getting institutions to believe in me and my work opened more and more doors.”

Josie Trinidad

Josie Trinidad, a storyboard artist-turned-director at Disney Animation and whose credits include Zootopia and Ralph Breaks the Internet, is also involved in the Rise Up Animation project of animator show creator at Disney, Bobby Pontillas.

Rise Up Animation is composed of a group of Filipino-American directors of animation who came together to help, inspire, and reach out to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) animators who want to build a career in animation or to simply improve their craft.

They have been creating panels, showcasing top Filipino American directors of animation, and allowing anybody who is interested to listen and ask questions, whether they are in the industry of animation or not, simply curious, or interested in having an animation career.

For a female Filipino American animator starting in mainstream animation, Trinidad said that the most challenging thing was landing that first job. “School was also challenging as well as convincing my parents that art school would be worthwhile. But after graduation, getting my first job took a lot longer than I thought.

“The animation industry is small and competitive. There aren’t as many opportunities as possible, especially in story. Luckily, I was able to get a story apprenticeship at Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS).”

As for working in Zootopia and Ralph Breaks the Internet, Trinidad said, “I loved working on both these projects and learned so much working closely with directors and writers [Rich Moore, Byron Howard, Phil Johnston and Jared Bush and director of story, Jim Reardon] in the story room and in editorial. It was a crash course in filmmaking I’m trying to emulate as I work on developing my own project at WDAS. I’ve learned from the best.”

Gini Cruz Santos

Gini Cruz Santos, a supervising animator at Pixar Studios, worked on various Pixar animation films, including Coco, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, Up, Lifted, and Brave.

Born in Pasay City, Philippines and a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas with a major in advertising, Santos earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in computer arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Her animation of Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, on the film Finding Nemo was praised for integrating “fish movement, human movement, and facial expressions to make them look and feel like real characters.” She was nominated for an Annie Award in 2004 for her work in this film and was nominated by the Visual Effects Society for an award for the same movie.

Maricel Pagulayan

Maricel Pagulayan, who spent two years at Maryknoll College in the Philippines and graduated from UC Berkeley, has worked on several films, starting as a visual effects supervisor, and later promoted to associate producer in such films as The Smurfs, Avatar, Superman Returns, X2, and Where the Wild Things Are.

As a woman of color and an Asian working in a field dominated by men, Pagulayan commented in an interview, “It’s more about being acknowledged as being part of the key ‘core team,’ helping to keep all the moving parts moving in the same direction on a given project. Although admittedly most decision-makers are men, everyone has to earn the right.”

Laurice Guillen

Born in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, Philippines, the 75-year-old filmmaker-actress-college professor, Laurice Guillen has been a strong Filipina presence in cinema, television and academia since 1971.

She is currently the president of the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival which champions the country’s independent filmmaking movement, and a member of the Executive Committee (Execom) of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

She is the protégé of the late filmmaker and National Artist of the Philippines for Film awardee Lino Brocka.

She is known as a director with depth and substance. Guillen’s films include Kasal, Kung Ako’y Iiwan Mo, Init sa Magdamag, Ipagpatawad Mo, The Dolzura Cortez Story and Salome which won her the Gawad Urian award for best director and was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film was described as “the kind of cinematic discovery that single-handedly justifies the festival’s existence.”

In 2006, she was awarded the Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi by Ateneo de Manila University for services to the Arts.

Guillen served as the former Chief Executive Officer of the Film Development Council of the Philippines and also helped found the Directors Guild of the Philippines.

Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara

Filmmaker Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara is known for her movies Once a Moth, Dear Diary, Alkitrang Dugo, and Ibalik Mo Ang Araw sa Mundong Makasalanan.

Kashiwahara, married to former ABC newsman Ken Kashiwahara, came from a very political family.

Her father was politician Benigno Quiambao Aquino, Sr.; her brother was Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, the assassinated martyr during the Ferdinand Marcos era; her sister-in-law was former president Corazon Aquino, wife of brother Ninoy; and she was the aunt of former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Marilou Diaz Abaya

The late Marilou Diaz-Abaya, an award-winning film director, was known as a feminist director in the 1980s. Her films dealt with the lives of the Filipino poor, women, and children who are trying to survive in harsh conditions.

A product of private schools in the Philippines (St. Theresa’s College, Assumption College), Diaz-Abaya took her Master of Arts in film and television at Loyola Marymount University and then went to the London International Film School to study film.

Her early films Brutal, Karnal (Of the Flesh), and Alyas Baby Tsina, sharply condemned the oppressive social system during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos.

She was also known for such films as Ipaglaban Mo (Redeem Her Honor), May Nagmamahal sa Iyo (Madonna and Child), Sa Pusod ng Dagat (In the Navel of the Sea), Muro-Ami (Reef Hunters) and Jose Rizal, a biographical film on the Philippines’ national hero.

She was part of the Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema.

A Japanese award-giving body described her body of work as “harmoniously blending entertainment, social consciousness, and ethnic awareness. Her work has won acclaim both in the Philippines and abroad for its high level of artistic achievement. It is an ideal manifestation of the artistic culture of Asia, and so is most deserving of the Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes.”