In victory, there is loss. Writer and director of Cinemalaya 2017 entry “Nabubulok,” Sonny Calvento may be partly having the time of his career now for having his first film be in exhibition at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). But prior to that, he also lost his father, one of the prominent Philippine broadcast journalist and columnist, Tony Calvento.
But it was his father who pushed him to attend the BIFF hours before his death. “But one of my father’s final wishes was for me to attend Busan. He couldn’t speak already at the ICU, but he wrote ‘Korea’ on a white board. A few hours later, he died,” he explained in an interview with Inquirer.net.
Nabubulok won the Best Production Design award at the Cinemalaya 2017 Film Festival. Seeing the film, the late Tony Calvento was proud of what he saw during the gala screening of the film at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay. “My dad gave constructive comments,” he recalled. “But what stuck with me was when he told me he was proud of me and the film. He said he had no expectations, but when he saw it, he was so happy,” Sonny reveals.
While still mourning, Sonny Calvento is optimistic about the journey of his first feature film . “I hope Busan will offer more opportunities for our film to be screened in other countries. That it will show how creative and truthful Filipinos are, as storytellers,” he said.
As it happens, Nabubulok goes to another international film festival in January, the Dhaka International Film Festival in Bangladesh.