Don Josephs Rafael Ebrahan’s “Hum” is on sale at the Tokyo Gap Financing Market.
A young veterinarian works on treating injured livestock in a shelter after a devastating earthquake. While caring for them, her professor discovered something surprising. That means her students can “talk” to animals. As she learns how to harness this talent, she discovers that the creature can sense and even predict aftershocks. Using this newfound connection, she helps Cowboy’s friends and family prepare for what’s to come. But her world is shaken again when another person with the same abilities appears…a man the police believe is responsible for causing the earthquake that destroyed the town. When he mysteriously arrives, she attempts to unravel his mystery by interrogating him in a secret primitive language that only the two of them speak.
“This film is a meditation on earthquakes, environmental disasters, and extreme weather events in the era of climate change,” Ebrahan told Variety. “The purpose of this film is to examine how natural phenomena so cosmic and seemingly beyond our control are tied to the choices we make as humans. The film is also an exploration of personal memories, including those of lost family members, my Indigenous identity, the stewardship of Indigenous communities’ lands, and the corrupt forces that threaten them.”
The film was developed at the Cannes Film Festival residency and sent to the Berlinale’s Script Station and the Sundance Institute’s Native Lab. “We are taking the film to markets around the world, including Busan, Berlin and now TIFFCOM, where we hope to find collaborators who can help make the film a reality,” Ebrahan said. “Most of the challenges for this film are working on the script, because creating a story with such rich lore takes a lot of time, especially for a sci-fi western.”
“Hum” has been developed and screened at several labs, residencies and markets, including Cannes Film Festival Residency, Locarno Academy & Residency, Sundance Native Lab, Berlinale Script Station and Talent Project Market. “A special moment for our team was when we won the Artekino Award and the Solfond Award at the Asian Project Market (in Busan), as this was our first market and it validated all the hard work we put into developing the script,” says producer Hanna Schielbeek. “Hum” also recently received minority co-production funding from the Polish Film Institute. This was a major milestone in our funding journey, as initial co-production grants were difficult to obtain.
“With our participation in the Busan Asia Project Market and the Berlinale Talent Project Market, we have co-producers from Poland and Singapore,” says producer Arenberg Ahn. “The script has also changed significantly from when we first proposed the project to the latest application we created. And it just keeps getting better and better.”
At Tokyo Gap Financing Market, producers look forward to meeting potential sales agents, distributors, financiers and funding organizations. “We are currently in the development stage where we are thinking critically about the production setup and the distribution and marketing of the film. We would like to meet with anyone who can help us explore the possibilities during production and beyond,” says Schierbeek.
“It’s been a dream to work with Don and Hannah. Don is such a talented filmmaker and Hannah is so passionate about what she does,” Anne says. “We are very fortunate to have worked with Don on his last two short stories and on this one, Hum. We have received grants from Sundance Institute, Polish Film Institute, Film Development Council of the Philippines, and Gold House, so we hope to bridge the gap with Tokyo and hopefully bring in equity investors and distributors for this project.”
“While it’s a very unique story from Don’s perspective as he grew up in the northern Philippines, we want to make a film that speaks to emotions that many communities around the world can relate to,” Schielbeek added. “We also hope this film will show how realistic, creative and subversive Philippine indigenous cinema can be.”
“Currently, we are developing an Oscar campaign for Don’s short film Vox Humana, which will serve as a proof of concept for a feature film,” Anne says. “Given the awareness and promotion around this, we hope it will also help create buzz for a feature film.”
Evrahan is currently developing two other screenplays in addition to “Hum.” One of them is an analog horror film about the relationship between a modern-day chess player and his computer opponent, interwoven with memories of the controversial 1978 World Chess Championship held in his hometown of Baguio during the Cold War. The other is a dark fantasy retelling of the Grimm fairy tale “Rapunzel” set in the colonial Philippines.
