“I am so happy that a giant streaming studio is backing us up and more people will be able to see this worldwide,” exclaimed Filipino filmmaker Kenneth Dagatan whose horror film, In My Mother’s Skin, was just acquired by the global video streaming service Prime Video.

The horror fairytale, which was written and directed by Dagatan, had its world premiere at the Midnight Section of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The Tagalog language movie was the only non-English language film in the Midnight Section this year. It will launch on Prime Video in multiple countries by the end of 2023.

Written and directed by Dagatan, the movie is set in the Philippines at the end of World War II and tells the story of Tala, the 14-year-old daughter of a textile merchant who lives in a war-worn colonial house with her sickly mother, Ligaya, and younger brother, Bayani. Things get out of hand with disastrous consequences when Tala seeks out a mysterious fairy who gives her a magical insect to cure her dying mother.

 

Felicity Kyle Napuli is Tala, the young heroine; Beauty Gonzalez portrays the ailing mother, Ligaya; the divine villainess is played by Jasmine Curtis-Smith; James Mavie Estrella portrays Bayani, Tala’s brother; Angeli Bayani is their live-in servant. Others in the cast include Arnold Reyes as the father, Aldo, and Ronnie Lazaro as Antonio.

 

In a unique mix of Catholicism and Filipino folklore set in a war-torn land, the movie is an intriguing and gory fairy tale that critics have likened to Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth.

Producer Bianca Balbuena, Head of Studios & Managing Director of Anima Studios Philippines and the former CEO of Epicmedia Productions, Inc., who has been behind supporting a number of Filipino films like Pepe Diokno’s Engkwentro, Lav Diaz’s A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery and When the Waves are Gone, told us in an exclusive interview by email that she chose to produce the movie, In My Mother’s Skin because “First, Kenneth and I are both from Cebu. We speak the same dialect that‘s why there’s an instant connection.

 

“He approached me and Bradley (Liew, CEO and Head of Project Acquisitions & Development of Epicmedia) when he was doing his first film, Ma, to launch iWantTFC. He’s very collaborative but he knows what he wants and can be stubborn when he needs to be. I enjoy working with Kenneth a lot.

 

“He introduced his second film, In My Mother’s Skin, in 2018 and he’s been developing it with Epicmedia for four years. The project won the BiFan NAFF Discovery of Asia Award then we approached Zhao Wei Films, Volos Films, and Clover Films to join us in this journey.

“We believe in the director, his voice, his intention, and the quality of the story. The person who led the whole journey was producer Bradley Liew and the development, preproduction, pitching, and production happened during my pre and post-pregnancy. I’ve watched it evolve.”

Asked how the premiere of the movie at Sundance was, Balbuena revealed, “We were all first-timers in Sundance, and it was quite overwhelming. We had a very good publicist, Emily Lu Aldrich of Accolade, and she really made sure to make the most of our visit. There were a number of interviews and photoshoots lined up. The premiere was a full house, long applauses, and an engaging Q&A. Then the reviews started pouring in and it feels so unreal. Kenneth has been receiving a lot of management, agency, and representation calls and inquiries about his next film. We feel so honored to be part of this journey with him.”

In our exclusive interview with Dagatan by email, the Manila-based filmmaker talks about his film.

What was the inspiration for making the film?

I was inspired by the stories of my grandfather who was a guerilla soldier during World War II. My dad used to believe that gold has been hidden in our house or backyard.

I wrote this as a short film way before I made my first feature (Ma) and totally forgot about it. After my debut feature, I read this again and said, ‘This is interesting, there’s something in it.’

So, it became my sophomore feature. I wrote it during the pandemic so a lot of references are there–paranoia, forced to work as a family unit because no one can get out of the house, claustrophobia. And how everyone is clinging to all sorts of hope.

What was the most challenging thing about doing this horror film?

Time constraints. Working with children and their limited hours. How to avoid too much blood spilling on an ancestral house. How to stay faithful to mythology yet at the same time bend it for the cinematic license.

Talk about the casting of your film. How did you find your actors and what made you choose them?

Tala and Bayani, the child actors, auditioned and I was really so impressed, and I decided to give the roles to both of them right away. Felicity (Tala) is a theatre actress who appeared in Lion King and Matilda. I saw photos of Jasmine and Beauty and thought it would be interesting for them to play something different than their usual roles. They totally pulled it off. We also thought of Arnold Reyes as the husband after Beauty accepted the role of the mother. I’ve always been a fan of Ronnie Lazaro. And Angeli Bayani has always been my first choice for her character.

How is your first Sundance experience so far?

It feels like a dream. A Filipino film in Midnight Section, the only foreign language film there. I am so happy to be celebrating these all with my producers, staff, cast, and the Amazon Studios team. I am so overwhelmed with the presence of the press here in Sundance and all the press activities. All my major film inspirations premiered at Sundance, most of them in the Midnight Section. And now I am here. I am enjoying the high. We will head to International Film Festival in Rotterdam in a few days for our European premiere.

This is only your second feature film. How different was the experience the second time around?

This had six times the budget, long preproduction and post-production time, and triple the number of shooting days. Collaborating with a Singaporean cinematographer and prosthetics artist and makeup artist and Taiwanese post-production people really elevated the film. I enjoy working with them as much as I did with the Filipino staff and crew. It’s a wonderful marriage without any cultural clash. This is my first time doing international coproduction and I am learning so much from my producers Bradley and Bianca.

You are definitely opening doors to future Filipino filmmakers with Amazon Studios already acquiring rights to your film. Why is representation so important?

We have to make noise and put ourselves out there so the world will know how diverse and interesting our stories are, our talents, and our voices. I hope that this is the first of many where films travel to international film festivals and also get sold worldwide.

What are you looking forward to at the Rotterdam festival?

Yes, Rotterdam is a big festival in Europe. I’ve always been wanting to go. They usually focus on mostly arthouse films so I’m happy they are opening up to the genre. I think In My Mother’s Skin is a snow festival film.

How would you sum up your thoughts and feelings on this incredible international journey?

Grateful for all the support I was given, and for my producers holding my hand throughout this journey and even here in Sundance. Grateful to have such generous actors. Grateful to have the best team in the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan. I am very excited about what’s next.