To commemorate LGBTQIA+ Pride month, Noontime Drama, an award-winning Filipino short film on coming out, will be screened for free online and in select cinemas nationwide.
Noontime Drama explores how the meticulous slow cooking of the traditional Filipino comfort food symbolizes parents coming to terms with their child’s sexuality or gender identity.
The 14-minute piece follows single mother Sonia (Susan Africa) as she struggles to prepare the perfect Kare-Kare together with her daughter Leslie (Zar Donato) in time for a family reunion. As the tension simmers between the protagonists, unresolved issues resurface and deflection fills each conversation.
The film is written and directed by creative duo Kim Timan and Sam Villa-Real, both homegrown talents from the Digital Filmmaking Program of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
“I first wrote this film after having an intense outburst with my mom in 2017,” Timan confessed. “I knew that I needed to start being honest with myself so I decided to come out to her. I did it and was bombarded with conservative biblical preaching. She was my best friend and I felt betrayed.”
“Over the course of the years, my perspective about her gradually changed. I realized that I need to respect her process of trying to make sense of my ‘coming out’,” she shared. “I tried to understand where she was coming from and that became the goal of the film.”
A study on the frustration experienced by parents of newly out LGBTQIA+ children, Noontime Drama, according to the young artist, is more of a “letting go” than a “coming out” story.
“Making this film with my girlfriend and queer friends helped me cope and accept the things that cannot be changed and finally, move on from them,” Timan noted. “I know that my Mom is slowly coming to terms with who I am, and so am I with her. I know she needs time to process it the way I did.”
Noontime Drama was a Grantee of the 2020 CineMarya Women’s Film Festival (Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino), where it was hailed as the Best Film and Best Screenplay. It likewise nabbed the Best Short Film and Best Performer Awards at the 2021 Dreamanila International Film Festival, the 3rd Best Short Film at the 2021 CineKabalen Culinary Cinema.
The work was an Official Selection at the 2021 Chennai International Short Film Festival in India, 2021 International Queer Film Festival Merlinka in Serbia, 2021 Les Femmes Underground Film Festival, 2021 Internacional Queer Film Festival de Playa del Carmen in Mexico, 2021 Pink Love LGBT Film Festival, 2021 Alvsbyn Film Festival in Sweden, 2021 KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival in India, and 2021 Stockholm City Film Festival in Sweden.
It likewise finished as a finalist at the 2021 Festival de films féministes de Montréal in Canada and 2021 Boden International Film Festival in Sweden, semi-finalist at the 2021 Seattle Film Summit in the USA, and quarter-finalist at the 2021 Crossroads International Short Film Festival in Turkey. It has also earned an Honorable Mention at the 2021 Paris Film Festival in France.
It was lauded as the Best Short Film at the 2022 CineKabalen Film Festival, and was exhibited at the 2022 Cine Filipina and 2022 UP Pride Film Festival. It was a Best Short Film Nominee at the 44th Gawad Urian Awards.
Noontime Drama will be screened as part of the 2023 Pelikulaya Film Festival from Friday, June 23 to Friday, June 30, 2023 at the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Cinematheque Centres nationwide, online on JuanFlix: The FDCP Channel. It can also be viewed in select cinemas in Metro Manila.
The short will also be on view at the MIYERKULET Freedom Extravaganza on Friday, June 30, 2023, 7 p.m., at the Penthouse of Fil Garcia Tower, Quezon City.
