The first feature film exploring the underground punk scene and social activism in the Philippines is participating in the GAP Tokyo Funding Market, part of the TIFFCOM Market of the Tokyo International Film Festival.
“Ria,” directed by award-winning short film director Arvin Belarmino, is about 25-year-old Ria, who lives in a dissolute society facing demolition while caring for her diabetic foster mother. Working as a hotel housekeeper, she becomes involved in underground porn operations as financial pressures mount. The story culminates when Raya mobilizes her punk community against forces that threaten their home.
For Bellarmino, the project emerges from direct experience. “I’ve always wanted to make a film about the Filipino punk community, because it’s the community I belong to,” says the director, who has been organizing mutual aid efforts with punk groups since 2013. We visit marginalized areas and provide food. And basic necessities for those in need. This is the form of our resistance against the system that pushes us to fight for our most basic rights. I do this even today, the only difference is that now I’m making a film about it.
Bellarmino’s short films have won numerous awards, with “Radikals” being nominated for Cannes earlier this year. “Although they are sometimes weird and wondrous, my short films have always had social and political layers to them. I think it is this combination in itself, of creative challenge and awareness, that holds my punk side in check,” Bellarmino says.
Producer Christine de Leon (“Radikals”) was drawn to the project’s unique perspective on Filipino society. “Reading the first draft, I finally understood why I wanted to make this film,” she says. “Ria’s story is rooted in a woman’s perspective on the world around her, specifically the chaos and impunity that currently plagues Filipino society.”
An alumnus of Talents Tokyo, Locarno Filmmakers Academy and Produire Au Sud Workshop Nantes, Belarmino was selected to participate in the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for “Ria” and won the Center National de la Cinéma (CNC). Producer Alemberg Ang, who co-produced the 2022 Cannes film “Plan 75”, joined after connecting with Bellarmino during the latter’s stay in Cannes. “We spent a significant amount of time talking, and that’s when I understood exactly what he wanted to do with his first film. I told him without much hesitation that I would like to join him as one of his producers. The fact that Christine, our commissioning producer, is the person who… “Mentoring him makes collaboration more fun.”
Beyond the aesthetics of punk, Belarmino emphasizes the film’s deeper resonance: “In the Philippines, punk is not just about music. It is a movement, a group of people who have joined together to help the marginalized, and to peacefully resist against a system of corruption and impunity.
The project is based at TIFFCOM and seeks to bridge the funding gap while connecting with potential sales agents, distributors and festival programmers.