It’s not easy for ambition to survive in a place like Tondo, one of the poorest and roughest slums of Manila. But thirteen-year-old Chrisval de Castro, who has lived in Tondo all his life, isn’t afraid to dream big. Almost every day, the first year high school student and part-time padyak boy can be spotted practicing football on the streets outside his house. He dreams of playing football for the Philippine national team one day.

“Pag may time po ako, talagang wala akong ibang gagawin. Magfu-football lang ako. Sa bahay, magfufutkal po ako. Sa kalye, hahawak po ako ng bola. Sa football kasi puwede kaming makapasok sa mga magagandang universities. Buhay ko na itong football," he says. 

(I really don’t do anything else with my spare time. I just play football. At home, I play street football. In the street, I have a ball in my hands. You see, football can help us get into good universities. Football is my life.)

The kid speaks with such passion and eloquence, he almost sounds like a character in an inspirational sports movie.

And in fact, he kind of is.

The boy is one of a handful of football-playing teens from Tondo who joined the cast ofHappyland, Jim Libiran’s new movie about a league of disadvantaged boys from the slums of Tondo who find hope and inspiration in the game of football.

Happyland is the second feature film by Libiran, the former broadcast journalist whose first film, the gritty and rap-infused Tribu (2007), won the Best Film, Best Actor, and Best Sound awards in the 2007 Cinemalaya Film Festival. Tribu looked into the violent gangster culture of Tondo and gained praise for its searing realism, largely a result of Libiran’s choice to use real gangsters as actors.

But whereas Tribu highlighted the reality of violence, Happyland is a movie about finding hope in the face of desperate circumstances, says Libiran. He describes the film as a “coming-of-age story about poor young kids who learned to dream and dared to fight for their simple goal."

The film tells the story of a Spanish missionary priest who tries to form a group of disadvantaged boys from Tondo into a fighting football team. The story is based on true events that took place in Tondo in the 1980s, when Spanish priests from the Don Bosco parish and youth center began teaching football to local out-of-school youths. These boys eventually formed a football team that became legendary for playing barefoot because they couldn’t afford to buy football shoes.

“The main character is still Tondo: that face of the Filipino as resilient, defiant, and happy, despite all the problems. In Tribu, I showed a darker side of Tondo. This film is still Tondo, which is still Filipino, but it shows the next generation. It shows that we have a bright future," says Libiran.

As he did with Tribu, Libiran has again chosen to use non-actors to play the main roles inHappyland. To find real Tondo football players to act in his film, Libiran contacted Peter Amores, the founder of a non-governmental organization that provides football training to youth in poor communities around the Philippines. Called Futkal or Football sa Kalye, the organization aims to build self-confidence and discipline among underprivileged youth through football, at the same time cultivating the next generation of Filipino football players. 

With Libiran’s encouragement, Amores took Futkal to Tondo. The organization tapped more than 20 boys ranging from 12 to 20 years old and provided them with football training and even acting lessons in preparation for the film. "We try to teach them the discipline of football so it can be applied in their daily lives and it will help them reach their goals, their aspirations, ang mga pangarap nila sa buhay through using the discipline of futkal or football," says Amores.

Like the characters in Happyland, the filmmakers of Happyland have also struggled to make their dream a reality. After taking several years to write the script, Libiran began filming Happyland at the beginning of 2010. He originally intended to release the film around June or July 2010, around the same time as the World Cup. However, problems encountered during post-production delayed the film’s release and put the production into debt.

Part of the reason for the delay in the release of the film was the high cost of production. The film was shot on Red One Cameras, perhaps the industry's most powerful and also most expensive digital cinema camera. Surpassing even the most powerful high-definition cameras, Red One Cameras capture digital images in full 2K resolution (2048 x 1152). Only a handful of Filipino feature films have yet been shot on Red Cameras -- including Raymond Red's Himpapawid, and Chito S. Roño's Emir.

"I wanted to present our country, Tondo in particular, in a different light. That's why I used the best equipment I could get my hands on." said Libiran. "What I didn't know was that using expensive recording equipment like that will entail also very expensive post production. That's where we fell short financially," he lamented.

Libiran said that they had initially set out to make a film on a P25 million budget, which has since been reduced to just P12 million. But as of now, Libiran's team has only been able to source P9 million. “We are still raising the last P3 million. The film is finished, but we still have a lot of utang (debt)," says Libiran. The filmmakers have set up a website, SaveHappyland.com, to raise the remaining budget through individual donations.

"Independent filmmaking is a misnomer. We're very dependent on everyone's love and money," says Libiran.

At the end of the day, Libiran says he’s happy that the film provided opportunities for personal growth to the more than 20 teenaged football players who joined the cast. “The silver lining is that I got a bunch of street kids and sponsored them to play football for two years. Those boys, psychologically and physically, have changed a lot," says Libiran.

He hopes to use the film to inspire more youth to take up football. Libiran also looks forward to working with the Department of Education to show the film in schools and poor communities around the country. "Ayaw namin na panoorin mo ito sa mall, pagkatapos, kakain ka ng hamburger. (We don’t want you to just see this in a mall then rush off for a hamburger.) It's not that kind of film. Gusto namin na panoorin ng mga bata (We want kids to watch it) —children who are out of school. Tapos we want to give them a sport. Teach them football. Especially in depressed areas, or in conflict areas like Mindanao," says Libiran.

Finally, Happyland has happened. After a sneak preview of the film at the Spanish film festival last October, the full-length film will be screened this week at the Cinemanila film festival in Robinson's Galleria. But after Cinemanila, there's no certainty yet when or where the film will be screened again. 

Libiran hopes that many will support the film and the future of Philippine football: "The only feedback that will tell me I'm doing things right is if people come out and watch the film. The worst that can happen is if people will ignore us."-TJD, GMANews.TV

Happyland will screen at the 2010 Cinemanila Film Festival on December 5, 2010 at 4:30 p.m. at Robinsons' Galleria Cinema B.