Campus Features

FROM A THESIS FILM REQUIREMENT AMID ECQ, TO THE TORONTO QUEER FILM FEST

Stef Aranas was ready to shoot her thesis film as one of her last requirements for graduation, but Miss Rona had other plans.

PAULINE NACAR / 29 March 2021

One of the most heavily impacted sectors in our society when the pandemic first struck in March 2020 was the academic community, primarily the students who were stripped off their years in-campus and once-in-a-lifetime experience of enjoying the student life with friends. This is especially tragic for graduating university students who couldn’t even get the ceremony they deserve at the iconic Filipino graduation venue: the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

Someone who is very familiar with this unfortunate event, and its devastating effects to the youth’s mental health and motivation, is filmmaker and musician Stef Aranas. She’s a local pop and R&B singer, frontwoman of duo Stef & Euge, and a graduate of the University of the Philippines Film Institute. Her thesis film “Your Biggest Fan” was set to be shot and produced just when the quarantine protocols were put in place across the Metro a little over a year ago, leaving her confused at how to move forward.

 

This was how “Resolving ‘Your Biggest Fan'” came to be, the 16-minute short that landed a spot at the Toronto Queer Film Festival. The international festival aims to celebrate resistance, creativity, and mutual aid work within the queer community in its response to the tumultuous times brought about by the global pandemic. “It seeks to engage work that is vital in this moment, speaking to the unique challenges that precarious and marginalized queer and trans communities are facing today.”

The film was premiered on March 26 under the Mundane Crises program of the TQFF, which spotlights on the stories of LGBTQ+ members wounded by seemingly mundane, everyday things, that are deceptively harmless. The lineup of films emphasize narratives of queer people in “all too familiar circumstances.”

Aranas’ Resolving ‘Your Biggest Fan’ is a poignant addition to this, exploring her identity as a trans woman in the Philippines, while making a name for herself in film and music. The project was created entirely during lockdown as a thesis requirement, bringing themes of the current social and political climate into Aranas’ cinematic narrative, with touches of the government’s response to the pandemic, and its impact on graduating students.

On a facebook post on her public page, she shared: “This film is not just about resolving my thesis problems. It details my fears and anxieties as an advocate and artist during the time that the Anti-Terror Law was about to be passed. Now, a year has passed and things have only gotten worse. Cases are higher than ever, and it’s due to the incompetence and lack of empathy of this government. I hope that we Filipinos don’t lose hope, and continue to clamor for change. We deserve so much better.”

The film is a great addition to the reverberating voices from the trans community across the country, fighting hard to be heard. From a thesis requirement to the international stage, Stef Aranas has taken her story, and allowed it to grow into a valuable experience for every viewer to learn more about the local trans experience, the hardships students currently face due to the imposed lockdown restrictions, and the plight of the Filipino people struggling to get by amid this seemingly never-ending pandemic.

The festival will run from March 25 to April 25, 2021. For additional information, follow https://torontoqueerfilmfest.com/.