When I moved to Seattle from the Philippines in 2010, I was still a bright-eyed and optimistic film school graduate excited to launch a filmmaking career. Alas, as fate would have it, I was needed in some other capacity. Seattle really wasn’t (and I’m afraid still isn’t) the most hospitable place for emerging filmmakers. Admittedly, I made a number of self-funded, self-produced films processing the complicated feelings I had with migrating and finding a place for myself here in the US. Luckily, there were a few people who believed in me and my potential, and one of them is Mr. Mauro Tumbocon, Jr.
Mr. Tumbocon left the Philippines during Martial Law, and established the longest-running Filipino film festival in North America, the International Filipino CIne Festival (FACINE). He accepted my short films when I was receiving rejection emails left and right. He believed in me and my films, as he does for many emerging Filipino and Filipino American filmmakers. And his determination to create a space for our stories inspired me to create my own Filipino film festival here in Seattle, the Diwa Filipino Film Festival.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Tumbocon won the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service. He truly deserved it. CBS News Bay Area covered his win, and even interviewed me so I could how he inspired and impacted my own film journey from filmmaker to film festival organizer. Maraming salamat, Sir Mauro! Mabuhay kayo! Mabuhay ang pelikulang Pilipino!
Adrian Alarilla 