In this episode I had the absolute privilege to talk with the magnificent storyteller Benito Bautista. He is an award winning international filmmaker. His films are shot all over the world. We talked about what you need to think about when you are shooting your film internationally and how to set up to make a good film. He shared his process of writing Boundary his first feature film shot in Manila and his more recent award-winning short narrative shot in Tokyo called The Interpreter. What an honor it has been speaking with Benito. I hope you enjoy!
Benito Bautista is an award-winning Filipino filmmaker based in San Diego, California. His films have been exhibited at festivals in Busan, Chicago, Seattle, Santa Barbara, New York, Hawaii, Goa, Guam, Laos, Manila, San Francisco, and San Diego. He is best known for his feature documentary film HARANA: the Search for the Lost Art of Serenade that won the Gawad Urian (Filipino Film Critics) award for Best Documentary and has broadcasted nationwide on PBS. BOUNDARY, Benito's first feature narrative crime thriller that was shot in Manila won the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Award for Best Narrative at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and was nominated under four categories including Best Picture and Best Director at the Gawad Urian Awards. BOUNDARY and his recent award-winning short narrative shot in Tokyo, THE INTERPRETER is now distributed in multiple countries under TBA Studios and Gonella Productions and on Amazon.
Benito is currently in production of his latest feature documentary film The Road to Sydney and in development of his narrative feature to be shot in North Carolina and the Philippines. He also co-produced a feature documentary film in the Philippines entitled A IS FOR AGUSTIN by Grace Simbulan that was an Official Selection at the Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy, premiered at the Marche' du Film at Festival de Cannes in 2021, and is now distributed in multiple countries.
Benito is the founder of Wanderlustproject Films and the co-founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization San Diego Filipino Cinema, presenter of the San Diego Filipino Film Festival.
