I was determined to capture the moment. It was 2007. I was given a camera to take with me on a trip back to the Philippines to visit my Grandmother for the first time since the shooting of Trying to Be Some Kind of Hero. Someone from the CBC who liked the film encouraged me to take a camera and perhaps shoot an update. Maybe, videotape my grandmother watching the film for the first time. So, I set out to film a sequel: Trying to Be Some Kind of Hero, Again.
Older and wiser, I shot this sequel knowing that it would mirror the previous film in many ways. I framed shots in similar ways to accentuate the passage of time. I would sometimes set up the camera on a tripod and just let it run to capture the action, whatever happens, in that span.
Lots of new interviews, including my Dad, with better sound equipment, I got deeper previously unsaid revelations but the footage, all shot, remains to be edited. It got digitized into a hard-drive and got shuffled around from closet to closet while I got busy with writing and filming Twelve shortly after I got back.
This old hard-drive just got found again and was recently reactivated. The footage is almost ten years old. The speed of life continues to amaze me. Life is but a dream, indeed.
Perhaps it is my duty to finally put something together. For now, this video fragment of Sunny (age 10) and Georgia (age 4) in Toronto. They were there to see me off before I left for the trip. I was trying to capture a glimpse of the life I had in Canada in contrast to the environment in the Philippines.
And by sheer coincidence, this photocopy art of their hand-prints from exactly the same time, fell into my lap just the other day. Maybe it’s a sign that I’m ready to tackle this project again. Maybe soon.