PH film ‘Death of Nintendo’ pasok sa Berlinale 2020

NAKATAKDANG mag-premiere sa Berlinale ngayong buwan ang pelikula ng Filipino American writer and producer, Valerie Castillo Martinez kasama ang acclaimed filmmaker Raya Martin, ang Death of Nintendo, isang coming-of-age story na naka-set sa panahon ng ‘90s pop culture.

Mula sa setting ng suburb Manila noong 90’s, o bago pumutok ang Mount Pinatubo, tampok sa Death of Nintendo, ang misadventures ng apat na video game-crazed 13-year old friends sa kanilang pagharap sa mga pagsubok, kabilang ang kanilang first love at circumcision.

Base ang Death of Nintendo sa mga karanasan ni Valerie habang lumalaki sa Pilipinas, bago lumipat ang kanilang pamilya sa United States. Unang naisulat ni Valerie ang istorya para sa kanyang Master of Fine Arts program sa Columbia University kung saan ito tumanggap ito ng parangal sa Faculty Honors sa university’s Screenwriting Competition noong 2016.

“I was at a midpoint in my life. I’ve spent almost an equal amount of years living in the US and the Philippines and I started fearing losing my childhood memories. It made me think of the simplest times I had growing up and summers in the Philippines. The 90s, in particular, were special,”pagbabahagi niya.

Napapanahon ang pelikula, lalot nakatutok ang lahat hinggil sa posibleng banta ng pagputok ng bulkan, lalo’t nanatiling nasa Alert Level 2 ang Taal Volcano.

“I chose the year of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo because I remember the morning I woke up to seeing the ashfall – it’s a vivid image seared into my memory, and so visually that inspired the events around the story.

Aside from peppering pieces of myself in each of the kids, the juxtaposition of videogaming with playing in nature is also what I think defines my generation. The nation itself was having an identity crisis as it was dealing with catastrophic events while the American military forces were departing the country,” pagbabahagi ni Valerie.

Una nang napabilang ang mga gawa ni Valerie sa Venice, Toronto, Busan, at nagwagi na rin ng iba’t ibang awards. Naranasan na rin niyang makasama sa paggawa ng obra ang kanyang childhood friend, schoolmate at acclaimed filmmaker Raya Martin, na ilan sa mga obra ang Independencia (2009), at Smaller and Smaller Circles (2017).

Paliwanag niya, “Working with Raya has excited me in two different ways. The most important reason is our connection to the story, and how he deeply understood the nuances of all the cultural specificities of that place and time. Raya and I grew up in the same middle-class neighborhood and attended the same elementary school for 12 years. What’s more is that we wanted the Philippines to be depicted specifically to our experience and not be exoticized or serve certain cultural stereotypes involving extreme poverty or crime.”

Para naman sa kanyang bahagi, naniniwala si Martin sa halaga ng kuwento ng Death of Nintendo, bagama’t malayo sa kanyang kinasanayang genre, para sa pagbabahagi karanasan sa pagiging queer sa panahon ng ‘90s.

“Val and I had the exact same Catholic suburbanbred world being schoolmates. I also remember it was the beginning of the Internet aside from the console wars, so we were really fascinated between this virtual new world and touching ground that I felt was unmistakable in her story,” pagbabahagi ni Martin.

Bagamat nakatuon sa mga kalalakihan ang unang bersyon ng kuwento, pinili ng dalawa na bumuo ng isang mahalagang karakter bilang protagonist.

“This feeling of inequality was essential to me. In fact, this time period had a lot of reckoning with the “boys club” mentality, just before our small suburban mindsets were forced to open up to a much bigger world,” paliwanag niya. Nakatakdang mag-premiere ang Death of

Nintendo sa Berlinale 2020 sa ilalim ng Generation Kplus category.

“Playing our film at Berlinale Generation Kplus is totally perfect. Young minds are the most impressionable, most vulnerable and most honest. It’s a lot of fun and just really a story that comes from the heart. Anyone can relate to the simplest need of our characters to be loved, and to figure themselves out. It’s also so magical that a film set on our side of the world, taking place decades ago, can make an impact and a real connection to today’s audiences, young and old,” ani Valerie.

Pinagbibidahan ang pelikula nina Noel Comia, Jr., Kim Chloie Oquendo, Jiggerfelip Se1mentilla, John Vincent Servilla, Moi Bien, Nikki Valdez, Angelina Kanapi, Jude Matthew Servilla, Elijah Alejo, Cayden Williams, at Agot Isidro.