About

PINOY SUNDAY tells the story of Manuel and Dado, two Filipino migrant workers who discover a discarded sofa. This transforms their normal Sunday into a tale of adventure, perseverance and self-discovery.

Project Type Full Length Feature
Director Wi Ding HO
Country of production Taiwan/Philippines
Running Time 100min
Shooting Format 35mm
Release Format 35mm
Genre Drama comedy
Language Filipino / Mandarin
Production Period June / July 2009
Target Delivery Period September 2009
Estimate Budget 13,000,000 TWD (approx US$ 390,000)

Selected by
2008 Pusan Promotional Plan, Pusan International Film Festival, Korea
2008 Tokyo Project Gathering, Tokyo International Film Festival, Japan
2007 Taipei Co-production Meeting, Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan

For two decades, I’ve lived as an outsider, first in North America where I studied, then in Singapore, and now Taiwan where I work. Like most, I always thought I could go back to a place of belonging. However on a recent trip home to Malaysia, I found myself alienated when I expected to feel most at peace. My long absence has rendered me a foreigner no matter where I go.

All over the world, more and more people are working in other countries. Some do it for survive and some do it for inspiration. Simple facts of life become more challenging and rewarding in a foreign country. Emotional needs become clearer, and sometimes that much harder to attain. For expatriate artists as well as migrant laborers, the sensation of living is more vivid in places that are home and far from home at the same time. Pinoy Sunday is an attempt to celebrate this dichotomy.

On Sundays, the immediate vicinity around St. Christopher’s Catholic Church in Taipei turns into a ‘Little Philippines’. For one day this is not Taipei. It could be Manila, where Filipino immigrants go about their Sunday rituals and routines. The natural optimism of this community of outsiders shines and made a great impression on me. I hope to share this ‘optimism of the outsider’ with my audience.

On their only day off, Filipino migrant workers, MANUEL and DADO discover a couch left behind on a Taipei sidewalk. In a life where everything is arranged and all possessions belong to the factory, the couch represents a chance to own something of their own. Aware that carrying a heavy piece of furniture across town is both ridiculous and illogical, the journey becomes an important metaphor for their attempt to make an unpleasant factory dorm that much more like a home. The arduous walk across the landscape is also an internal struggle —a journey that challenges notions of manhood, friendships and family.

On a very basic level, Pinoy Sunday is a typical road film. On their absurdist journey, MANUEL and DADO encounter different archetypal characters. Often humorous and poignant, rife with miscommunication, both parties attempt to overcome linguistic barriers—in Tagalog, Taiwanese, Mandarin, even broken English the language mosaic of factory life in Taipei is demonstrated. From the self-righteous scooter rider, to the melodramatic suicidal student and mother, to the old man and his homemade recycling truck, MANUEL and DADO come across the many faces of a typical globalizing, industrial city.

In each tableau, we see the optimism and innocence with which they go through life. Unlike their local counterparts, MANUEL and DADO’S goals are far simpler, yet it’s the sheer simplicity of their needs, which makes them foreign. Lost, exhausted, and defeated, their journey comes to a climax at sundown when panic strikes. Faced with deportation if they miss curfew but not ready to abandon the couch, the two friends sit down to an impromptu meal by the riverside. As the sky darkens, their conversation brightens with homebound reminiscing. Seated on the couch, star-gazing turns into song, and Pinoy Sunday gives way to its only lyrical moment—a dream-like musical sequence as the two friends float down the river on their figurative lifeboat.

Praise for Wi Ding HO’s previous films:
SUMMER AFTERNOON
“I’m very proud to present SUMMER AFTERNOON in my program. It´s the best short film I´ve seen this year!”
Suzy Capó, Programmer Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival

“…especially with only five long shots, the near perfection of amazing mise-en-scene demonstrates Wi Ding HO’s acute visual sense and his audacious cinema aesthetic.”
Steven Tu, Film Critic Taiwan Cinema Note

“Wi Ding HO’s most effective sleight-of-hand is in making the long, single takes completely unnoticeable. But when you do notice them later, you also realise how many “How the hell did they do it” moments there are in the film.”
TwitchFilm.net

“Wi Ding HO‘s miniature road movie is a technical tour de force of fantasy, rage, and suspense.”
Vancouver International Film Festival

RESPIRE
“as in Chungking Express or Battle Royale, the amazing look of the film helps achieve a sense of dislocation. It’s bleached out, dreamy…is this now, or in some apocalyptic future?”
Cath Le Couteur , Founder of Shooting People UK

“Very daring work, with almost all extreme close-ups the film portrays a fantasy sci-fi world…the perfect combination of passionate energy and detached grimness.
Ann Hui, Jury of 2006 Taipei Film Festival