‘From a child’s perspective, I soon questioned the imbalance in these relationships, wondering how these incredibly young women had the strength to leave their homes,’ Portuguese director Leonor Noivo describes how a seed planted in her childhood eventually grew into her latest work, Filipinas,which follows the fate of three women at different stages of their experiences as live-in maids – a phenomenon she’d observed growing up in 80s and 90s Macao.
The project is produced by João Matos (Terratreme Filmes, Portgual) along with co-producer Mathilde Delaunay (Barberousse Films, France), and was screened for the first time as a Work-in-Progress during the Cinéma du réel ParisDOC industry forum.
The film connects to the stories of Norma, Josephine and Joan, three Filipinas who work as internal housemaids in Lisbon. As work duties comes first, their intimate life is cast aside for years, ‘and loneliness comes to the surface, becoming part of their condition,’ the synopsis tells us. ‘These women are on a pursuit where there is no room for privacy, on a non-stop duty, and waiting for a distant future where they can finally possibly rest.’
A fourth young woman, Melissa, is about to embark on her own journey, leaving her village to work overseas as a maid. ‘These will be her last days on the distant island,’ the synopsis continues, ‘from where she will travel to the shrill city of Manila to be taught in a training programme for domestic workers and caregivers. These are State courses so that young people can specialize and thus serve abroad perfectly. Here, Melissa will be trained to become an ideal housemaid, to work in the shadows and to serve the Western world. We follow her on this path, until the day she leaves the Philippines for her new life overseas.’
We also witness a meeting between Melissa and Norma, aged 60, who’s come to the end of her working life as a maid and is returning home.
Noivo is careful to ensure we see the story from all sides, as we discover in her director’s notes. ‘At the same time, we know the European high-class employers may experience another inner conflict, that of not having enough time for basic housework tasks, for a family life or for their own children. Stuck in the hustle and bustle of their career-oriented lives, and tired of the demands and speed required by the current system, these employers may tend to dream of faraway places where they would like to go offline and rest deep. And money will pay for that choice,’ she suggests.
Producer João Matos picks up on these themes, telling BDE, “It was important for us to reflect on the different points of view, life experiences and conditions, and reflections on the world. So what we tried to do is to convey the lives of these Philippino women and still be faithful to them during shooting, editing and release of the film.”
Noivo chronicles the techniques she uses, and her approach to telling their stories: ‘Conceptually, we’ll focus on the Filipina characters, staying close to them. First, we’ll accompany their daily lives, but soon we’ll detach them from the real world in which they live, placing them in scenic settings, cross-referencing testimonies, and creating situations based on reality to emphasise and dissect their condition. The film will thus leave the naturalist register to enter a space of suspension. We’ll bring to light these contrasts and the contradictions of a globalized world, reflecting on the place of the feminine.’
Now almost complete, the film’s producers were seeking production and distribution partners, and, in screening the first cut, constructive feedback from the professional audience at Cinéma du reel/ParisDOC to help with fine-tuning it for the final stages.
Of course, in learning about the lived experiences of the women we follow in Filipinas, we are forced to consider the wider global context in which they live, thereby speaking to diverse audiences. As producer Matos puts it to BDE, “We hope the film’s universe, around the reality of women emigration from the Philippines, can resonate with different audiences, as it reflects also in the current situation around the world, culturally, economically and politically.”
The sentiment is further expounded by the cinematic techniques outlined in Noivo’s director’s notes. ‘It will be a reflection on the ways in which globalization has shaped not only the physical spaces we inhabit, but also the intimate lives of the individuals caught in its web.’
