FilmHouse Talk: The Making of “Lingua Franca”
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Biographies
An emerging auteur recognized by the Museum of Modern Art as a “rarity among the young generation of Filipino filmmakers for her muted, serene aesthetic,” Isabel Sandoval is a US-based filmmaker who has written and directed three features. Her debut, Señorita (2011), competed in the Concorso Cineasti del presente at the 2011 Locarno Film Festival. Her follow-up, Apparition (2012), competed in the New Currents section at the 2012 Busan International Film Festival. Considered a modern Philippine classic, Apparition is regularly programmed in retrospectives of Filpino cinema alongside works by Cannes regulars Lav Diaz and Brillante Mendoza. Sandoval’s third feature Lingua Franca (2019), co-starring Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks: The Return), premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. The film was highly acclaimed in France, and Cahiers Du Cinéma praised the film’s melding of political impulses with true romanticism as being “rare in contemporary cinema.”
Carlo Velayo was the inaugural SFFILM New American Fellow and is a boots-on-the-ground producer of The Light of the Moon (2017 SXSW Audience Award for Narrative Feature) and Lingua Franca (Venice Days 2019). He is Senior Producer on Netflix’s original documentary series Happy Jail (2019), and has secured the option to adapt Carlos Bulosan’s autobiographical novel America Is in the Heart into a limited miniseries. Born in the Philippines, raised in Australia, trained in NYC, and previously based in Los Angeles, Velayo literally brings love to all of his creative collaborations.
Andrew Thomas Huang is a multi-disciplinary filmmaker with a background in fine art, VFX, puppetry, and animation. He is a Grammy-nominated music video director whose collaborators include Björk, FKA Twigs, and Thom Yorke. His films have been commissioned by and exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Sydney Opera House; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, LA. Huang continues his foray into narrative film with his first feature Tiger Girl, which has received support from Sundance, Film Independent, Cinereach, and IFP as well as the K Period Media Grant and SFFILM Westridge Grant.