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MANILA, Philippines – Before Sunshine won the Crystal Bear for Best Film at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, it was first a thread of stories of girls forced to grow up too soon.
Written and directed by Antoinette Jadaone, the film follows Sunshine, a young gymnast played by Maris Racal, whose dream of joining the national team is derailed when she finds out she’s pregnant.
Jadaone began writing Sunshine during the pandemic when she was looking for a creative outlet, as the film industry came to a pause. The idea came after reading an article about the rising cases of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines.
The Philippines, being a predominantly Catholic country, has highly restrictive laws against abortion. Because of this, women resort to unsafe methods to terminate their pregnancy.
According to Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network (PINSAN) spokesperson and lawyer Clara Rita Padilla, around 1.26 million Filipinas induced abortion yearly (2020 data), with 3 dying every day due to unsafe methods.
But statistics, for director Antoinette Jadaone, only scratch the surface.
“I asked the interns and [production assistants] of Project 8 to find someone very close to who Sunshine is, who is a teenager who got pregnant,” Jadaone said in Filipino, as part of her creative process to fully understand the character she was writing about.
She also spoke with progressive and conservative doctors and worked with women and children’s groups to ground the story on lived realities.
Since its premiere on July 23, Sunshine has become more than just a movie, opening up conversations about real stories people don’t often hear.
Real-life Sunshines
When Sunshine cries on screen, she cries with young girls who have gone through the same struggle.
Jadaone and her team spoke to about 20 girls as young as 15 years old. Some interviews were done in person; others happened over Zoom, where the girls would keep their cameras off.
One of them came from a wealthy family but now lives in a less privileged community. She had a relationship with a construction worker and got pregnant.
“She said she’s happy, and we’re not in a position to judge her happiness. But it was an unplanned pregnancy because she was only 16 or 17,” Jadaone recalled.
PINSAN, a coalition formed in 2015 to advocate for safe and legal abortion access in the country, was among the groups involved with the scriptwriting process of Sunshine.
Like Jadaone, PINSAN has heard stories of girls forced into tragic pregnancies.
“When I was just starting as a lawyer more than 30 years ago, I had a case involving someone whose chronological age was 18 but had the mental age of 6. She was gang raped twice in Marikina,” PINSAN spokesperson Padilla said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The girl was gang raped first by 8 men, then by another group of 7 to 8. The pregnancy continued, but she didn’t know how to be a mother because of her condition.
Padilla also recounted 2 deaths tied to rape and pregnancy. One after a sepsis from induced abortion, and the other after childbirth due to a high-risk pregnancy brought on by Dwarfism.
Young girls also opened up on what came after.
“It’s like there’s really chaos in their heads to the point that sometimes they have nightmares of tiyanak,” Jadaone said in Filipino, referring to the mythical creature said to haunt mothers who lose their babies.
Alone with their thoughts, many young girls said they spoke to imaginary figures, as if they were listening to them.
“I don’t know why, but it’s really common for them to be talking to something or someone,” added Jadaone in a mix of English and Filipino.
That pattern inspired Bata, a mysterious girl who follows Sunshine throughout the movie.
But while each story was different, they all pointed to the same thing: a lack of safe alternatives.
“They weren’t ready to become mothers, but they were forced into it, either because they thought it was what’s best for them, or because they had no other safe option,” said Jadaone in a mix of English and Filipino.
More than abortion
To Jadaone, abortion is just one part of Sunshine.
“I’m not pushing for abortion.” Jadaone clarified in a mix of English and Filipino. “What I’m pushing for is safe and open access to good health care and options for these kids. And also, decriminalization of abortion,” she added.
Jadaone’s call echoes what advocates like PINSAN have long been pushing for.
“It’s an urgent issue,” said Padilla, highlighting how there are women who die every day due to a lack of access to safe abortion.
Padilla also emphasized that decriminalization is not about imposing abortion on anyone, but giving women a choice.
“If they don’t need an abortion, no problem,” Padilla said in a mix of English and Filipino. “But other people should have access to safe abortion,” she added.
PINSAN launched a bill calling for the decriminalization of abortion in 2020. Since then, they have been waiting for lawmakers in Congress to champion the measure.
“They know the issue and yet the policymakers and the national government aren’t keeping up,” Padilla said in a mix of English and Filipino. “It’s a reality and yet, it’s not talked about,” she added.
Still, PINSAN and Jadaone remain hopeful.
Padilla said support for safe abortion from various sectors and media organizations has grown over the years.
Meanwhile, Jadaone was surprised by how older, more conservative viewers responded to her film with compassion.
“We thought someone would walk out or get angry, but they didn’t judge Sunshine,” Jadaone said.
She hopes this compassion extends beyond the cinema, because in the end, Sunshine isn’t just a fictional character.
“’Yung compassion na binigay kay Sunshine, sana ganoon din ang ibigay ng lipunan sa totoong mga Sunshine,” said Jadaone.
(The compassion shown to Sunshine, I hope society gives the same to real-life Sunshines.)
She also calls on lawmakers to watch the film because without laws that protect young girls, real-life Sunshines won’t just stay as stories. They will keep growing in number. – Rappler.com
