BOUNDARY is inspired by true stories of taxicab drivers of metropolitan Manila. It is set in the urban roadways of Manila during Christmas. Limuel (Ronnie Lazaro), a middle-aged taxicab driver picks up Emmanuel (Raymond Bagatsing), a handsome businessman as his last passenger for the night. Unknown to Emmanuel is Limuel’s conspiracy to bring him to the robbery hideout of Diego (Edwin Nombre), a feisty and volatile robbery gang leader. Their journey together from Cubao to Antipolo is riddled with inescapable tension and bad luck, and the only way out is to face their damnation.

While in Manila and awaiting for finishing funds for post-production of a feature documentary film called Harana, San Francisco-based independent filmmaker Benito Bautista finds riding taxicabs around the urban roadways of the metropolis and conversing with the taxicab drivers affecting.

Soon Mr. Bautista’s taxicab rides become an experience in storytelling, “All of a sudden, I was drawn into their stories and I became a captive listener.”  The taxicab stories are often personal, touching on the experience of work and family.  A good number of taxicab drivers express their emotional commentaries about the political, social, and economic issues they hear on the AM radio.  A few taxicab drivers frankly and regrettably admit to Bautista their brief experience with the criminal underworld in order to support their meager income. “They really know the areas that are crime infested and dangerous and the places that are safe.  And amazingly, the taxicab drivers recognize a passenger to be dangerous or harmless by their body language.”

After a good number of taxicab rides, director Bautista decided to do his research for a story.  “I wanted to do a story that will almost encapsulate all taxicab stories that I have encountered including the important locations that were disclosed to me by the taxicab drivers.  Knowing the constraints of time and budget, and scheduling of cast and crew during the holidays, I wanted to express a tension-filled and truthful story that can be shot in a few days.”

Writer-Director Bautista immediately wrote a skeleton structure of the story and presented it to SF-based filmmaker and Casting Director Emma Francisco.  Miss Francisco created a list of actors for the main characters and with a series of hopeful emails and text messages she immediately arranged director Bautista’s meeting with Ronnie Lazaro, Raymond Bagatsing, and Edwin Nombre.  “It was a dream casting for this film. I figure if Ronnie, Raymond, and Edwin do not find the story and the characters in the story appealing, then I would just develop another one.  I got lucky that they all liked it.  This will be the first time that the three of them are going to work together in a feature film and that got me excited,” says Bautista.

“It is going to be challenging because I have to learn to drive like a taxicab driver. Sige let’s do this! Rock and Roll!” remarks Ronnie Lazaro. “The graphic instrument in the film is the actor. And when your actors show you this undeniable twinkle and enthusiasm in their eyes as they begin to process their role then you know that you will become witness to an expression that is magical. And seriously it is an honor to be working with Ronnie, Raymond and Edwin in this film,” remarks director Bautista.

“The next step was to prepare the screenplay and have my friend John Bedia co-write it with me.  It really did not take us a long time to finish the screenplay.”  Writer John Bedia was excited to co-write a genre film.  “I wanted to explore a story about a crime drama genre film and I am also excited about the line-up of main actors and their roles in the film,” said Bedia.

Almost simultaneous to the writing of the screenplay, director Bautista together with Miss Francisco, who is also the Co-Producer of the film started to organize the production and the creative team.  “One of the most challenging stages of producing a film is the acquisition of funding.  We did not have adequate funds for this project, so we had to think of a workable solution in producing an urgent story.  We gathered a collective of creative friends including production and post production companies like BigTop Production, Voyage Studios, and Optima Digital, all of which we have worked with in the past.  We developed a collective-ownership strategy so that we could immediately lock down production schedules and commitments.  Fortunately, everyone greenlighted the proposal.”

Director Bautista immediately approached friends and family for assistance in the form of minimal investments that will be utilized for the administrative, logistics, van rentals, pre-production workshops, permits, partial salary for the actors, catering, etc. 

“Sometimes when you are passionate about something especially a creative expression like film and the only hurdle is funding then you have no other option really but to pitch the project and honestly beg for assistance in the form of investment. Then silently you pray.”

After finishing the screenplay and a series of creative meetings with the collective of award-winning collaborators and workshops with non-actors, the film Boundary was finally shot two days after Christmas.  Director Bautista wanted to utilize the joyful atmosphere and the wary and tense, “watch-out for snatchers, robbers, fire-crackers, explosions, carnappers, etc” energy that is present during Christmas time in Manila.

According to both the Director of Photography Mccoy Tarnate and Sound Recordist Raffy Magsaysay the cramped condition inside the taxicab and the lack of time helped in the telling of the story. “We were in a claustrophobic condition and continually sweating inside the taxicab as we couldn’t really turn the air-conditioning on for sound recording but we thought that the experience motivated the telling of the tense moments of the journey”. Unperturbed by the long hours and minor setbacks like unacceptable permits, cinematographer Tarnate often expresses, “Walang problema basta steady lang”.

Noticeable also in the film are the lighting and production design inside the taxicab, which are the collaboration of Cinematographer Mccoy Tarnate, Production Designer Theresa Tang and Lighting Designer Jun Mirador. According to them, “We wanted to incorporate exposure with the design and motivation of Christmas. And Director Bautista does not want to buy expensive materials and insists on using recyclable materials for props and practicals”.

The making of a film relies heavily on collaboration amongst the different creative and administrative departments. “The film Boundary is a wonderful experience of trust and collaboration amongst the departments involved. Everyone from the Production Manager Reverie Rodelas, Assistant Director Grace Simbulan, SFX Make-up Joel Cuenca, Tech Consultants Raymund and Richard Belleza, the production crew all the way to the first time actors, catering, Art Department., transportation and logistics etc. really contributed in a very big way to the making of this film. “We did it together,” proudly remarks Director Bautista.

Boundary is an urban-drama feature film inspired by true stories of taxicab drivers of metropolitan Manila written by Benito Bautista and John Bedia, directed by Benito Bautista, and starring Ronnie Lazaro, Raymond Bagatsing, and Edwin Nombre.  The film is currently in post-production.  Watch out for more updates on post-production edit, musical scoring, sound design and color grading.

 

For inquiries and/or information, please email Boundary Producer, Emma Francisco at boundarythemovie@gmail.com.

Check out Writer/Director/Producer Benito Bautista’s previous and current works:

The Gift of Barong: A Journey from Within

Harana