A lot of people may agree that the harder you look for something, the more elusive it proves to be. This unwritten rule of the universe holds true even for the most optimistic souls like Simone Rota.
The 33-year-old defender of Davao Aguilas FC and a member the Azkals – the Philippine Men’s National Football Team — has given the public a glimpse of his private life via Journeyman Finds Home: The Simone Rota Story, a full-length documentary film that chronicles his struggles when he came back to his homeland.
“When I was growing up I always thought I was at the wrong place. But then when I came here, I realized that everybody has a destiny,” Simone Rota told Manila Standard in an interview during the docufilm’s screening at Uptown Cienma in Taguig City.
The idea of this 60-minute masterpiece, is to show the life of Simone, his journey from the time he was adopted in an orphanage in the Philippines, then raised in Italy, up to the time he started playing for an Italian professional football club and then coming back to the Philippines after thirty years to play football for the national team. It also focuses on the challenges he faced looking for his biological mother.
“His main reason for playing football in the Philippines is to search for his biological mother, who left him and his sister in an orphanage some 30 years ago,” director Albert Almendralejo said.
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Simone, upon his return to the Philippines, instead of staying in a condominium just like the other players, chose to live in the orphanage that cared for him when he was an infant. Hence, the docu serves as a fundraiser for the orphanage so they can help generate more interest in the sport while at the same time caring for the homeless children.
“Initially, the documentary was about football and the players but when we learned about the story of Simone, we decided to focus on his journey, which is something that is so interesting to share with the audience,” Almendralejo stated.
It took the production team more than three years to complete the documentary. In the process, Almendralejo, and his co-director Maricel Cariaga, got to discover how humble and down to earth Simone is and why he should be emulated by young football players and ordinary millenials alike.
Since the its debut at Sinag Maynila, Journeyman…has earned numerous accolades. First, it received a grade of “A” from the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB), it won the Audience Prize at the 2018 European Philippine International Film Festival held in Florence, then a Special Jury Prize at Sinag Maynila.
“We wanted to create more docu like this which speaks to the audience and at the same time leave them valuable lessons in life. I’m also hoping it will help out in the search [of Simone’s mom]. Maybe after all the buzz there might be new leads,” Almendralejo ended.