Somewhere in space
BAKA DOON SA BUWAN
Noah Rosales Tonga
79 MINS / ENGLISH, TAGALOG / PHILIPPINES / 2023 /DRAMA, COMEDY
Synopsis
JOY is an eight-year-old half-Filipina and half-African American who lives with her mentally unstable Filipina mother, MERCY in the province. Growing up with a cold relationship with her mother, her grandmother made her believe that her father had been absent because he was on the moon. With so much void in her early life, Joy grapples with her own identity. Joy finds out that her mother plans to leave for Manila to move on from the past without her and start a new. Joy pursues a "journey to the moon" to find her father, believing that being reunited with him will stop her mother from abandoning her. She does this with the help of a new teacher from her school, an American Peace Corps volunteer, FAITH. Faith starts to act more like a mother to Joy, and Mercy starts to feel an unexpected maternal jealousy and loses the smallest amount of sanity left in her.
Cast & Crew
CAST:
Aaliyah Marciano
Kate Alejandrino
Mimi Felicia
Jed Cuestas
WRITERS:
Noah Tonga
John Rogers
PRODUCER:
Erwin Blanco
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY:
Kurt Padilla
EDITOR:
Marya Ignacio
MUSIC BY:
Paulo Protacio
Director's Biography
Noah Tonga is a Filipino film editor. To date, he has edited more than 60 films recognized by various award-giving bodies in the country. One of his works includes “Doll House” – a Netflix original movie produced by MAVX Productions, Inc. which streamed worldwide. Recently, his project “Mallari” produced by Mentorque Productions and distributed by Warner Brothers was released in cinemas nationwide. He expanded his filmmaking career by writing and directing short films and they competed at film festivals in the Philippines and abroad. He has been awarded Best Director for his latest short film, “Memento Mori” at the Filipino Independent Film Festival-Netherlands 2022. “Baka Doon sa Buwan (Somewhere in Space)” is his first full-length feature as writer-director which is currently in the rounds at different film festivals in the world.
Poster
