Multi-awarded Filipino Filmmaker Benito Bautista talks Mumbai Love

Filipino filmmaker, Benito Bautista, travels back and forth between California and the Philippines. He was one of over 30 finalists from around the world competing at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) Asian Project Market (APM), which is designed to provide international funding for co-production deals. BIFF is an annual filmmakers’ event in Busan, the second largest city in South Korea. After four grueling days of intensive pitch sessions, Bautista brought home the prestigious CJ Entertainment award for his new film project, Samuel over the Rainbow. The award comes in the form of an initial grant for $10,000, which goes towards project development with the potential to receive full funding for the entire film production as well as international distribution. With this win in Busan, the film industry is eagerly anticipating Samuel over the Rainbow. Bautista, inspired by true events that took place in Samar, wrote Samuel over the Rainbow. He mentioned, “It wasn’t until my casual discussion with good friend and brilliant actor Ronnie Lazaro that I realized the profound meaning and cinematic story of the Samar incident”.

Bautista has worked in various independent film productions both in the U.S. and in Manila, including director Gus Van He Sant’s Oscar-nominated film, MILK, starring Sean Penn and James Franco. He directed the award-winning documentary film, The Gift of Barong: a Journey From Within that is now part of Stanford University’s Stanford Program for International Cultural Education (S.P.I.C.E.).

Get to know the team behind Mumbai Love here

His first feature narrative film, BOUNDARY, is the NETPAC Best Film winner at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, 2011. BOUNDARY also won the Grand Jury Award for Best Feature at the Guam International Film Festival in 2012. Bautista also has been nominated Best Director for BOUNDARY at the Gawad Urian Awards in 2012.

He also directed the internationally acclaimed documentary film entitled HARANA – the search for the lost art of serenade, which won several Audience Awards from international film festivals including the prestigious Hawaii International Film Festival in 2012. HARANA made its international premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in 2012.

Bautista received the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Indie Bravo Award in 2012 for creating films that received international acclaim and recognition. He is also a film program adviser at MINT College and in his spare time, is an avid surfer and cyclist.

His works include Samuel over the Rainbow which is a satire based on the true story of the invasion of an innocent fishing village in the remote eastern region of the Philippines in 2009. The invasion in the film is accidental and the reaction to the invasion is comically naïve and fleetingly dreamlike for the natives. The town falls under a spell; cocaine and magic mushrooms ruling this once quiet fishing community. Samuel over the Rainbow will be Bautista’s fifth directorial feature length film, co-written by Bautista and Ed Samson, and produced by Scene9.1 and Wanderlustprojectfilms. Shooting is scheduled to begin in June of 2014.

Bautista’s latest project Mumbai Love, a cross-cultural romantic comedy shot on location in India and the Philippines. This is about the love between a man and a woman literally from two different worlds, from two different countries and cultures, who will risk everything; even racial differences or age-old traditions because of their true love for each other. It is the story of the inter-marriage of two totally different cultures through love, fate and dance.

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This feature-length film is a cross-cultural romantic comedy that is not only a love story but is also a story about how two cultures can come together as one – setting aside all racial stereotypes and social class barriers in the name of love and friendship. This is a story of romance between two people separated by culture and tradition and bound by love, fate, and dance.

A young but already self-made Indian-Filipino named NANDI knows in his heart that he will find his soul mate in time and through destiny. However, his parents insist that tradition is tradition and that they know who will be best suited for their only son. As much as he loves his parents, Nandi cannot simply comply with this tradition. For him, love is not to be arranged but to be found through the intercession of fate. And fate indeed comes a-knocking when he meets a beautiful free-spirited Filipina in the heart of Mumbai, India by the name of ELLA.

Ella is a young independent woman who sources accessories for a small start up jewelry company in Makati. Her work brings her to Mumbai and little did she know that she will end up meeting a man who belongs to a different world and yet she feels that they are one and the same.

In the bustling traditional yet modern city of Mumbai begins Nandi and Ella’s whirlwind friendship and romance. Nandi tours her around the majestic city – giving her the local’s point of view. Nandi takes her to small communities to see what real locals do in real neighborhoods. He takes her to the center of arts and culture in Mumbai where she learns how truly colorful and rich Mumbai’s culture is. Nandi also takes her to the traditional and historical parts of Mumbai – the sacred temples and the museums – where Ella learns about the ancient history and civilization of this glorious city.

Ella not only finds herself falling in love with the beautiful people, culture, and landscape, but also with the young man showing her the magnificence of Mumbai, India.

One morning, when Ella wakes up still dreaming about her glorious night out with Nandi around the magical city of Mumbai, she realizes that she had to leave abruptly because her employer changed her flight for some emergency in their company back home. Ella also realizes that she made a stupid mistake of not exchanging contact info with Nandi. Time is running out and she had to make that flight to Manila. She leaves Mumbai in haste and with a heavy heart.

Meanwhile, when Nandi visits Ella’s hotel, he finds out that Ella has left with no trace behind her. He is devastated. All he could remember is her sweet smile and the name Ella.

But Nandi is not giving up. He cannot let his destiny escape him. With the help of his best friend and cousin ROMNI, they head to Manila to search for Ella.

And the universe is truly by his side because Nandi finally finds Ella in the heart of Manila. The two start where they left off and this time, they know they have fallen for each other.

But like any other great love stories in the history of man, conflicts arise and Nandi and Ella’s love for each other is challenged by age-old traditions that are often hard to resist. Will Nandi and Ella’s interracial love succeed? Would Nandi disregard his parents’ will and pursue what his heart says? Or would he consider letting go of Ella in honor of his people’s tradition.