Honey, My Love, So Sweet
written and directed by JT Trinidad
produced by Jelsy Arcales, Vien Geslani, Jacob Alcala
heal our inner child by helping Gab and Life finish their film!
also, help JT graduate ^_^
(Click here to donate)
£9,530
pledged of £8,000 goal
139
backers
Pledging Channels
Gcash
Address
Address
09760409923
(John Thomas T.)
500 Terry Francine Street
San Francisco, CA 94158
500 Terry Francine Street
San Francisco, CA 94158
Gcash
Address
Address
09760409923
(John Thomas T.)
500 Terry Francine Street
San Francisco, CA 94158
500 Terry Francine Street
San Francisco, CA 94158
QR Codes
About the Project
The story
Manila, 2000s. Life (11), an androgynous boy, lives in a standalone cinema slated for demolition where he forms a deep friendship with Gab (11), the son of the film projectionist. While Gab navigates love in Life's presence, Life develops an unusual admiration for Gab's father.
Poster Art by Marco Leander Gono (@marceux)
Me and You
and
Everyone We Know
Hello, I’m JT, a Bachelor of Arts in Film student from the University of the Philippines Diliman.
I’m finally graduating. It has been five years since I entered film school. Entering my dream university was surreal for an 18-year-old kid from the outskirts of Manila. Pursuing filmmaking as a program was not usual for underprivileged students who didn’t have money to pay for private universities. Even my parents didn’t want me to take film. Yet, I worked hard, with the help of many, to prove that it was possible.
When I entered film school, I only had a dream. My friends and I randomly made a one-minute film. It went viral, unexpectedly. A film about family queer acceptance had millions of views across social media without having any intentions for it to go viral. We were young kids who wanted to experience what a film festival feels like, and five years later, I’m set to make my thesis.
(insert Boom Tiyaya link)
I’m ending my film school journey with another film about queer kids. “Honey, My Love, So Sweet” is about Life, an androgynous nine-year-old boy who loves cinema and discovers his identity in a demolishing cinema. Coming from personal experiences of displacement and discovering identity, I want to end my university life by making a statement about queer kids so that no one would experience what many of us did.
The Intent
Kids in the movies are wholesome yet dumb, and I was the opposite: angry yet mindful. Maybe it is because adults have mistranslated innocence to naivety. While innocence is pure, it is never deprived of truth. Innocence is a state where we are most conscious, a time where we are most resisting—a period where resistance is welcomed and never denied.
“Honey, My Love, So Sweet.” attempts to paint a portrait of a child’s heartbreak—a heartbreak that’s meant to change one’s life, whether it be for the better or worse. Through the collective memory of Life’s self-navigation within vanishing spaces and Gab’s attempt to find home amidst spaces that reject their existence. I aim to transform the cinema into a reimagined community where care is a priority.
Like Life, kids are innocent but never ignorant. Childhood is a place where fear is transformed, where wrongs are questioned, and where lies are rejected. Kids do feel. Kids do cry. Kids do hurt… just like us.
The Vision
The film's visual and aural language is influenced by my childhood experience of being looked down upon by adults, with the camera embodying an awareness of the adult gaze that often condescends to children. Adopting the standalone cinema's perspective, the camera becomes an active observer, assuming the viewpoint of the walls and foundations, maintaining a mostly static position to observe events from a distance.
The concept of how Life sees the world is integrated by aligning the camera with Life's height. Despite its small size, the camera will never look above adults, cropping being inevitable.
Help!
However, I couldn’t finish this alone. I need your help to finish this film and my studies. In my previous works, I had to compromise a lot of things because I didn’t have enough resources to make them possible. I only had a dream and a mobile camera when I used to make my class projects.
That dream persists, and with the help of many, we've been able to share our stories internationally. These humble films have won awards in Singapore, Indonesia, and Croatia. Some were recognized as among the Best Filipino films of 2020 and 2022 by CNN Philippines Life and individual lists by cinephiles.
While it’s always good to embrace my resources, I also want to experience what it feels like to have a fully realized vision, free from the constraints of restrictions imposed by my material conditions.
We offer pledging options with various tiers available. If you're pledging Php 30,000 (USD 550) or more, or if you're interested in becoming an executive producer, please email us and we have something bigger for you!
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out via our email honeysosweetfilm@gmail.com or
contact Jelsy Arcales (arcalesj@gmail.com). Thank you so much!