In Biri Island, a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, there’s a magnificent rock formation popular to local tourists. The impressive natural wonder, carved through ferocious waves of the Pacific Ocean and the San Bernardino Strait, holds a lot of interesting stories, most of which told by local elders.
For cinephiles, Biri Island is known to them as the setting of the romantic movie Iisa Pa Lamang, which starred by Richard Gomez, Dawn Zulueta, and Maricel Laxa. It’s the same island where Chito Roño shot the 2003 film Spirit Warriors topbilled by Vhong Navarro, Jhong Hilario and Danilo Barrios.
Now, fifteen years later, Roño is giving Biri another well-deserved exposure as the notable rock formation on the island province becomes the backdrop of Signal Rock, another film which story, according to the acclaimed director, hits close to home.
“It is a story of the people living in a island town, which barely offers any hope in itself. It is a story of a struggle for relevance in a changing world, forcing them to shift their morals and family values, if pit against keeping together. Intoy and the rest of the characters are all based on real people,” the 64-year-old box office director shares.
To begin with, “signal rock” refers to the tip of one of the huge rock formations in Biri that protrudes into the sea. It’s where some of the struggles of the central character are shown.
“I want to give my all for this passion project. There are some things here that I did for the first time and I’m proud of it. Also the location is very beautiful and I bet, those who will watch the film will appreciate the Philippines more,” Roño says.
The film revolves around Intoy (Christian Bables), who lives in an impoverished fishing island, taking care of his parents, while waiting for his sister Vicky, an overseas Filipino worker, send them money.
Just like many women in the island, Vicky has flown to a foreign land, and married a foreigner, as a practical way to help their families back in the Philippines.
Since Intoy lives in a remote area, getting in touch with Vicky through a mobile phone is a constant struggle. The only way to get through a call to Vicky is to get a good signal by scrambling on the strange rock formations on the island.
But the better life they hope for goes down the drain when Vicky, together with her daughter, flees her husband, who turns out to be abusive. This leaves Intoy, poor but with a gift of gab, to be resourceful and come up with a master plan to help his sister and his niece from their adversity. He steps up to become the hope of the family to protect its members get them safely.
The lead and the rest of the characters are all based on real people and the story is inspired by true events that took place in the 90s.
“Signal Rock is a simple yet realistic drama,” says Roño. “It talks about ordinary people in a remote province area. The people there usually try their luck abroad. We heard so many stories about it, but this one, this is the story of those left behind.”
The film is also produced by his production with his Director of Photography Neil Daza and written by the award-winning Rody Vera.
Distributed by Regal Entertainment, Inc, Signal Rock is also an entry to the upcoming Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino Film Festival 2018, which runs from Aug. 15 to 21.
Completing the cast are Elora Españo, Mara Lopez, Francis Magundayao, Daria Ramirez, Arnold Reyes, Nandiing Josef, Archie Adamos, Sue Prado, JayR Versales, Keana Reeves, Julia Chua, Kokoy De Santos, Jomari Angeles, Rubu Ruiz, Mon Confiado, Ces Quesada, Lee O’Brian, and Dido Dela Paz.
“To be more realistic, we stayed in Samar for 15 days. Until now it’s still a very remote province. We tried to immerse ourselves in the local community, we walked to our location shoot, we stayed in houses where locals live. We basically discover the real life and struggle of people there and we can attest that there’s hardly any signal in the area,” the seasoned director ends.