27° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL

BASECO BAKAL BOYS

CHILDREN METAL DIVERS
by Ralston Jover
Country: Philippines
Year: 2009
Duration: 93'


CHILDREN METAL DIVERS
Manila. In the slums of Baseco, some children, called the “Bakal Boys,” engage in illegal diving for scraps to sell. One day, the boys find an anchor. They laboriously raise it to the surface and then excitedly transport it to a junkshop. But later, Utoy notices that his friend Bungal is no longer with them. For the next few days he desperately searches for the boy but without any success. While grieving over the loss of his best friend, Utoy starts hearing the voice of a mermaid, beckoning him into the sea.


“I worked for Baseco Bakal Boys for almost a year before I started to shoot. My research team and I had several interviews and immersion processes, studying the phenomenon of the children metal divers of Baseco. It’s been an overwhelming experience for me and the pervading existential issues affecting these poor people hit me in a profound way; children and parents alike accept the fate of their friends or children who allegedly got lost or drowned during the very dangerous activity of metal diving.”

Biography

film director

Ralston Jover

Ralston Jover (Manila, Philippines, 1965) wrote for television for fifteen years until he wrote the story of The Bet Collector (2006) by Jeffrey Jeturian, which screened at many international Film Festivals such as Toronto, Thessaloniki and Moscow. His follow-u film was Brillante Mendoza’s The Teacher, which screened in competition at the 2006 Torino Film Festival. His next scripts were both directed by Mendoza in 2007: Foster Child, which was shown in the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes and Slingshot, winner of the Caligari Film Award in Berlin 2008. Marlon, the documentary he co-directed with James Amparo, was his first directorial attempt; it was premiered in the Cinemanila Film Festival of 2008 and won the Best Documentary Award. Children Metal Divers is his first full-length narrative film.

FILMOGRAFIA

filmografia/filmography
Marlon (coregia/codirector James
Amparo, doc., 2008), Baseco Bakal
Boys
(Children Metal Divers, 2009),
Magdarame (doc., 2009).

Cast

& Credits

regia/director
Ralston Jover
sceneggiatura/screenplay
Henry Burgos, Ralston Jover
fotografia/cinematography
Ruben Dela Cruz, Carlo Mendoza
montaggio/film editing
Kats Serraon, Charliebebs Gohetia
scenografia/ production design
Deans Habal
musica/music
Teresa Barrozo
suono/sound
Mark Locsin
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
Gina Pareno (Lola Savia), Meljon Guinto (Utoy), Vincent Olano (Bungal), Edgardo Olano Jr. (Bengkong), Simon Ibarra (il padre di Utoy/Utoy’s Father), Cherry Malvar (la madre di Utoy/Utoy’s Mother)
produttori/producers
Bessie Badilla, Albert Almendralejo
produzione/production
Apogee Productions, Queen Bessie Llc
vendita all’estero/world sales
Ignatius Film Canada

TFF

prizes

PREMIO CIPPUTI 2009

Best Film about the Working World

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