‘Her Locket’ actress on Fil-Chinese backlash vs film: I hope it breaks barriers

Rebecca Chuaunsu wins best actress for “Her Locket” at the Wu Wei Taipei International Film Festival in Taiwan. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

What started out as a “revenge” project against her family is now winning Rebecca Chuaunsu acting awards. The actress-producer recently received her second best actress trophy for JE Tiglao’s “Her Locket” at the Wu Wei Taipei International Film Festival

She won the same award at the Transsaharien International Film Festival in Morocco last year.

“Her Locket” brings the audience back to 32 years ago, when Rebecca’s father wrote his last will and testament, “but nobody made a big deal about it. However, being a strong woman, I fought for gender equality. The idea started there, and whether or not it ended as a revenge film, you would have to watch,” she told Inquirer Entertainment in an interview.

“Her Locket” is one of the official selections in this year’s Sinag Maynila Film Festival, which will run from Sept. 4 to Sept. 10.

Rebecca first shared the story at a seminar on writing and filmmaking facilitated by JE during the pandemic. She had to tell the story via Zoom. JE commissioned Maze Miranda to cowrite the screenplay.

Rebecca said that, surprisingly, the story is still relevant to a lot of Filipino Chinese families up to this day. “This story of the character Jewel Ouyang is set in the 1970s, that’s why we have a younger Jewel (played by Sophie Ng). She is telling us now that the issues before are still the same today. During our time, I couldn’t date Filipinos. I also could not join show business. Thirdly, the Chinese always favor sons over daughters. These are still the same up to this day,” said Rebecca.

“Her Locket” has also participated at the 2023 Marché du Film–Festival de Cannes in France, 2023 London East Asia International Film Festival in the United Kingdom and the 22nd Dhaka International Film Festival in Bangladesh.

‘Close to home’

“At first, we didn’t know what our category was. We went to Cannes and then to London and they classified us as “family drama” and “women empowerment.” Was this our goal in the beginning? No. We didn’t know exactly, until this happened and we said, ‘Oo nga! Tama pala!’” Rebecca said.

Sophie said she was thankful to have been given the chance to be in a film that’s “actually so close to home.” She explained: “I’m also Chinese. While I did my research on the lives of Filipino Chinese women in the ’70s, I also learned a lot from the heart-to-heart talk I had with Ms Rebecca,” she began.

“It’s funny because Jewel is like me in real life. I’m also not encouraged to date Pinoys. Jewel’s parents don’t know that she is taking up film. I’m taking film in Mint College right now and my parents are also unaware of it. I’m happy that I actually got to voice out what’s happening to me through this movie,” said Sophie.

Boo Gabunada, who plays Jewel’s son Kyle Nicholas, studied to become a lawyer hoping to give justice to his mother’s story.

Sophie Ng as young Jewel —JE TIGLAO INSTAGRAM

“What became my character’s conflict was this: All of this revenge or fight for justice is at what cost? What would be its effect on the family and their psyche?’ As for my mom’s fight—I promised her I would fight for her, but up to what point? This is because I often feel like I was the only one fighting since her health is already deteriorating,” explained Boo.

Elora Españo plays Tere, Jewel’s caregiver. “I’m the only pure Filipino here. I’m a reflection of unemployment in the country. I show what a desperate person who wants to rise from poverty can do in order to survive,” she said

Cinematographer Jag Concepcion was also present during the interview to share his vision for the film.

“This features a lot of claustrophobic feels because I was dealing with so many themes, also because it was a period film—I had the present, the past, and I have Jewel’s moments of clarity and moments of dementia,” Jag began.

“I had wanted to showcase visually what I thought dementia would look like as a person going through it, as she interacts with her son and her helper. Every character is going through his or her own problems—Jewel with her dementia, Kyle being a son dealing with a mother with dementia and Tere, who is just trying to survive and then sees many opportunities that this dementia brings,” explained Jag.

When asked how she thinks the film would impact the Filipino Chinese community, Rebecca said: “I will tell you that a lot of the lawyers you will see in the film are actually my lawyers in real life. They said, ‘You dare to show this film in the Philippines?’ I said, ‘Why not?’ I’ve shown this abroad. I hope for it to break barriers. It might cause more problems, yes, but the film is already out there, so bring it on!” INQ