WRITTEN BY FRANCESA JANA SANTIAGO

Did you know that the first Filipino Hollywood star was a woman named Elena Jurado? This small-town Cebuana got her first big break through an Arabian film story called White Hands and since became known as the “Island Cinderella of the Screen”. While she did gain traction and got paired with big-time actors, it was discovered she was left unpaid for her work and even tried to sue, yet unfortunately, her case was dismissed. Fast forward to today, it’s still not easy for people of color to succeed in the white-dominated industries of film and television. And for the longest time, Filipinos have either been given background roles or projects that weren’t of their own portrayal. But 2022 really hit differently… and that’s because of how much Filipinos and their authentic stories have surfaced within this year!

2022 gave us the first Hollywood-produced Filipino film that is Jo Koy’s Easter Sunday, the first Filipino actor in a Jordan Peele movie which is Brandon Perea and the first Filipino to be nominated for a Golden Globe: Dolly de Leon! Pinoy pride continues to flourish even outside American media. We saw this through a lot of international projects like Nocebo, a Philippine-Irish psychological thriller incorporated with Filipino folklore and stars Chai Fonacier, whose character Diana wears her ethnic identity like a badge throughout the movie— even cooking Humbà and performing traditional folk healing! In addition to that, there was also Perry Dizon, the Mindanaoan actor who starred in the 2022 Oscars’ Best International Film Drive My Car! According to Rappler, Perry got scouted through his IMDb page and was asked to audition via Skype. He got casted in 2020 and was granted a substantial amount of Tagalog lines to say in the Japanese drama!

Many were also surprised to find out that a Filipino actor known as Soliman Cruz led the European feature film To the North, based on a true story that happened in 1996. Soliman plays Joel, a simple seaman who finds a stowaway in a cargo boat and decides to help him out despite the risk of getting in trouble with the Taiwanese officers of the ship. Soliman shares to GMA that he was discovered by Romanian director Mihai Mincan through his roles in Lav Diaz films and casted him right away with no audition— the same goes for his Filipino co-stars Bart Guingona and Noel Sto. Domingo! The Cannes-winning film Plan 75 also features another kababayan: Stefanie Arianne! The Japan-based actress (who is also of Japanese blood!)  took part in the dystopian drama that won the Camera d’Or Special Mention Award.

Coming back to the United States, Iñigo Pascual, who was responsible for the Billboard chart-topping hit “Dahil Sa’yo”, represented the country with his momentary gig on FOX’s Monarch, an American musical drama series. There he played Ace Grayson, the adopted grandson of Dottie Cantrell played by Emmy winner Anna Friel. There was also Leonor Will Never Die, the directorial debut of Martika Ramirez Escobar and will be distributed across North America by Music Box Films! The psychological comedy-drama stars Sheila Francisco as a retired filmmaker who gets hit in the head by a falling TV and suddenly transforms into a kick-ass senior starring in her own unfinished screenplay! The film won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Amplify Voices prize at the Toronto International Film Festival!

Wherever they may be in the world, Filipinos naturally excel in any endeavor they enter thus deserve to be honored and supported. And if you take a step back, it may seem that us Filipinos have already come so far and that the entertainment industry is embracing us even more. But all these are just baby steps, rather, the beginning to bigger things. What we see on screen is important as they play a vital role in influencing our personal beliefs and perspectives in life. At the same time it is also the main medium of sharing and validating the stories we experience first-hand. The more Filipinos portray beautiful, complex, enjoyable and unique tales, the more our community gets seen and heard.