Judith Gonzales Breaking New Grounds With 'Mangarap Ka' Film

A rising documentary filmmaker- Judith Gonzales

Brilliant people never sit still. They are like grown ups with so much testosterone spilling out their ears. They are hungry for new things and they never stop until they found their dreams, their passion and their love of things that they want in their lives.

If you read a lot, you will be able to understand between Non-linear and Linear personality. Linear ones are content waiting for normal turn of events like a farmer waiting for the season's harvest. The non-linear ones come tumbling down and if they could reshuffle everything like making a dough,  or invent things to keep momentums in their lives,  they will do it. They can't wait, they want to dismantle things and rebuild it.

So is it a good thing? Are those people who wanted to experiment and or invent, create, twist and innovate, isn't it scary? Only God is infinite or the so called, "God has no end nor beginning." Well,  that is God with sublime power. How about us? That is, if whether we want to dig on Pink's poignant song, "What About Us...?"

I am born a Filipino and in our race we suffered many atrocities in life, big or small. We knew very well how we react to certain things. We also know that in our culture, being supportive to new and unique ideas doesn't come easy. But Filipinos are stubborn, and they won't stop until they get what they want, or die trying. Take for example a Canadian friend who said to me, "Look, Filipinos look stupid, but they can take over your country." I almost died laughing. Was it an insult? There was truth to it that yes, we look so dumb and at times helpless, yet we never quit doing what we believe in.

Judith Gonzales is one of these remarkable people who never quit doing things that are already precarious to an ordinary Filipino, especially, Filipino-Canadians where some of us are caught between a new culture and staying the backward thinking. Confused as we maybe, this once Advocate to Live-In Caregivers, even now, the roads she travelled are snaking in both directions.

A single mom who faced the worst in life. Her many downfalls and long journey as rearing her children alone and building a career so remote in her past life. Like all of us, life back home was utterly difficult. Who would think that in those days of pure struggles, we all are bearing the four seasons of spring, summer, fall and winter? Because we were able to cross the demarcation lines not too many became successful.

Judith Gonzales book of life was once opened to me. She let me read all those worn out pages and the glossy ones. Matured and responsible writers knew the covenant between a storyteller and the person who own the story. It is only me who understands this woman of strength and resolve.

Judith Gonzales on camera

We both have the same passion for our community and it is because of this profound and endearing spirit of helping people, our path had crossed. Her life interests me, her inner strength of embracing and tackling larger than life dreams almost defy logic. Because in her many advocacies where she became the voice of Caregivers as a radio personality, she shifted to something only the brave ones can instantly fit in- filmmaking.

Wait, Judith Gonzales as a Filmmaker? Is she retarded or something? But no, she keeps going defying the most illogical concept of building her own kind of moviemaking. How? By enlisting unknown casts from the community at large. Casts, movie characters that are new and unknown. How will the community of Filipino-Canadians take it? I won't be surprised if those who are already in the moviemaking industry will die laughing on this new breed of insanity, if that's how it looks.

Filipinos are born with stubborn convictions and one of those are the adulations of the popular actresses and singers alone. They have this kind of bar set on their mind that they will only patronize the ones with big names. Isn't making a movie with unknown characters a suicidal undertaking?

"Mangarap Ka" seemed far-fetched. When few of its episodes were shown online, the result was forgettable. Ask any social media friends and they can't even remember about it. The X factor may not have been there.  It's like a friend telling me, "What's Mangarap Ka?" and then I have to redo the explanation and where to find it. What did it missed? The kind of platform? Online shows become so rampant in the Filipino community that it has become like, ordinary. Audiences and people who loved the online stuff would go to trending ones. The really popular ones.

With all these realities, what makes Judith Gonzales so convince in continuing with "Mangarap Ka" Episodes and in fact, pushing the limits by filming another "Mangarap Ka" stories which is now slated to be shown this coming March 3, 2018 in one of Toronto's flashy theatre venue.

I am thrilled. I am excited about this first film "Forced To Let Go" to be featured for the first time in Canada theatre- filmed, written and produced by our emerging Fil-Canadians which is changing the landscape of our community's entertainment platform.

True to life story written by Analyn Aryo highlights the painful reality of being in Canada where immigration can dose off your dreams and break your heart. This true-to-life story is what makes it worthy of our support. We need to be able to look around us, see each other's eye and start a new order of being able to tell our stories on the white screen, in theatres.

Who are the casts? They are gifted individuals who understand the story and felt it at heart because they too are immigrants where the fabric of the story might happen to anyone of us. There is one more thing that we need to realize; We are building a new frontier of creating our own talents.

Judith Gonzales and her team at Pinoy Dreams Media International may change the way we look at documentary films created from scratch. Because really, why did East Indians being able to build their own "Bollywood" thing. The Chinese were able to establish their own sets of gifted artist. Isn't it time for us in Canada to applaud those who are breaking new grounds to honor our own talents?

Let us give our resounding support for our own emerging filmmakers like Judith Gonzales.