Family drama gives a voice to Filipino-Chinese women

THIS YEAR, J.E. Tiglao’s Her Locket, an entry to the 6^th Sinag Maynila Film Festival, is hoping to represent women who refuse to be silenced despite a conservative family background.

The film is centered on an aging Filipino-Chinese woman, Jewel Ouyang, who recalls memories from her past amid the throes of dementia. With her youth, beauty, popularity, and fortune came a tenuous relationship with her frustratingly traditional parents and favored brother, Magnus.

Rebecca Chuaunsu, executive producer of the film as well as the actress playing the lead role of Jewel, was inspired by a story told by her own father 30 years ago.

Upon reading her parents’ old diaries, which detailed the family’s inheritance issues, Ms. Chuaunsu decided to develop a story based on it. “This is a tapestry woven by me, the director, and the writer. I have my real-life lawyer here. We have a disclaimer that not all parts are biographical,” she said at a press conference on Aug. 29.

Director Mr. Tiglao and writer Maze Miranda first heard of the story through Zoom, with the film starting pre-production in 2021 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They pushed through with filming in 2022, and Her Locket eventually made rounds of film festivals in 2023.

Ms. Chuaunsu was delighted by the film’s reception in various countries including the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Taiwan, and Morocco. Most notably, it graced the Cannes Film Festivals’ Marche du Film screenings.

“Many times it was shown under programs about Asia, and many times it got to speak on the topic of women empowerment,” she said. For portraying the lead role, she bagged a Best Actress award in Morocco.

Sophie Ng, who plays Jewel in her young adult years during the flashback segments, took on the challenge of depicting the struggle personal to actress-producer Ms. Chuaunsu.

“It was extra difficult because I am the same as well. May image din ako sa pamilya ng kapasawayan kasi hindi ako sumusunod sa Chinese traditions (I also have an image of stubbornness because I don’t follow the Chinese traditions),” she said.

For Ms. Ng, Her Locket sends a message of pursuing what you want in life despite the obstacles set by family and society.

In telling the story, the cast and crew aimed to do justice to the sweeping narrative that stretched across time. Jag Concepcion, the film’s director of photography, said at the press conference that it was “a fun collaboration to do a period film.”

“There’s a lot of flashbacks to the colorful past, while in the present there’s the main character who suffers from dementia,” he said. “We had to form numerous looks for each one — the present affected by dementia, the past dealing with the Chinese family, Teresa’s reality as the Filipino caregiver, and the courtroom scenes of moving forward in the characters’ futures.”

Amy Tan, author of renowned Chinese-American novel The Joy Luck Club, also had some input on the film, being Ms. Chuaunsu’s Facebook friend.

“She said there are a lot of similarities like the mother-daughter relationship, and the love-hate relationships in the family,” she shared.

Ms. Chuaunsu told the press that having toured film festivals globally for Her Locket made her realize that women’s family struggles in conservative households resonate across all cultures.

“Audiences who may not understand Hokkien, Tagalog, or even English would tell me that, halfway through the film, they would feel that it is a true story. They would come up to me after the screening and ask questions,” she said.

“The theme of women empowerment and gender equality is truly universal.”

Her Locket opens on Sept. 4 at the Gateway Cineplex in Araneta City, Cubao, Quezon City, as an official Sinag Maynila feature-length entry.

The Sinag Maynila 2024 film festival, which will run from Sept. 4 to 8, will have seven full-length features, 10 short films, and seven documentaries in competition. For updates on the screening schedules and participating theaters, visit Sinag Maynila’s social media pages. — Brontë H. Lacsamana