Aussie-Pinoy filmmaker Mark Smith chronicles life and times of Pinay grandma

Australian-Filipino creative Mark Smith will chronicle the life and times of his Pinay maternal grandmother through moving images. He seems to show that anything personal is social and lived experiences are shaped by societal events.

- By JERRY DONATO

"Well, it’s a lot of family research," said the filmmaker and screenwriter about the film "Escape from Camiguin," which is in the pre-production phase, in an exclusive interview with this paper.

"A lot of it I knew because my grandmother and my grandfather looked after me. My lola and lolo came to Australia, and they told me things as I got older. I remember a lot of these stories," added he, whose childhood core memories with grandparents Agustin and Donata Dagaraga include them taking him to school and attending church in barong Tagalog at Christmastime.

Given the innate curiosity of a child, young Mark asked his lola and lolo, who lived with them in Australia, a lot of questions. "I’m glad I did because their stories are incredible," said he.

His lola will serve as a focal point or perspective in the biographical flick where personal recollections are interspersed with historical events.

A piece of information given to The STAR shares that his Australian grandmother, Isabel Smith, is the muse of the film project, "Finding Miss Almond."

"I’ve got two incredible grandmothers (the Australian and the Pinay)," said Mark, "both (were) affected by World War II, one’s in Adelaide, the other one is in Mindanao and Camiguin, and both linking with Douglas MacArthur."