Made In Manila – A Chicagoan’s Love for Dharma’s Music

It’s opening night for the Chicago Filipino Film Festival at the Portage Theater and first-time filmmaker Tony Rago stands quietly on the side while photographer’s go flash happy with the “show opener” star, Bessie Badilla.  Former suburban Connecticut housewife turned Brazilian carnival queen, the celebrity of the night Badilla graciously poses in front of her carnival costumes used in her documentary, “Dance of My Life”.

“We are so excited to show the documentary tonight,” said Badilla to each person who asks about her experience as a “first time Filipina” carnival queen.  “We just showed it in New York two months ago and had to extend our trip because people still wanted to see it!”

Cheers of “congratulations!” soon follow as more visitor’s pile into the theater, huddling their turn around the beautiful and welcoming lady of the night.

Across the room are tables filled with endless sheets of white frosted cakes and fresh banana lumpias, luring in each guest after their photo-op with the beauty queen.  Echoes of laughter and clinking glass dominate the theater lounge as Rago sips his white russian, anxiously searching for someone in the crowd.  This is all very new to him.  It’s almost surreal since the past month has been an accidental blessing.  For it seems just yesterday Rago was introduced to the Filipino based music band, Up Dharma Down, and a year and a half later he’s featuring a documentary about his trip to visit the band in the Philippines.  No interviews for now, at least not until tomorrow as his debut film, “A Week in Metro Manila:  Up Dharma Down” will be featured for the first time on the big screen and a part of the 2011 Chicago Filipino Film Festival.  Finally relaxed after testing his film in the theater earlier in the day, Rago happily sticks around to network and eagerly help the scrambling volunteers needed to make this night possible.


Larry Versola, one of the film festival coordinator’s, quickly shuffles to and from guests and sponsors, unnoticing he left his professional digital camera lying on one of the vendor booths.


“Hey Larry I grabbed your camera if you’re looking for it,” said Rago relieved to have finally found its owner while holding up a boxy and very expensive looking Canon.


“Oh thanks man, you can take pic’s with it if you like,” said Versola walking up to his next meet and greet as if he already knew it was in good hands.


Rago nods and smiles as he joins the rest of the black t-shirt and pants wearing photographer’s flexibly bending and kneeling their bodies for the perfect shot of Badilla and fans.

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Four days past since his documentary debut and Rago couldn’t be happier with the turnout.  Standing a head taller than most people with a shaggy beard and hair-do, the 30-year-old Italian-American Chicago native beams a child-like smile with every opportunity to talk about his “awesome” time in the Philippines one year ago.


Computer software technician by day in downtown Chicago and music lover of “all kinds” in his spare time, Rago first heard of Up Dharma Down from a co-worker’s friend.  One of many “friend’s of a friend” who’s helped him through his journey into film-making.


“I’ve always liked any type of music no matter if it’s in another language or not,” said Rago attributing a Japanese rock band called Asobi Seksu, whom first got him into international music.  “After hearing Up Dharma Down, that was it.  I became an instant fan.”

Up Dharma Down - Indak - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb2uJtlZzbk

Up Dharma Down, a popular indie rock band from Makati, Philippines, sensually attracts locals and non-Pinoys like Rago through their jazzy, rock-inspired, hypnotic tunes and commitment to fans.  A self proclaimed “official unofficial promoter”, Rago created a friendship with the band via email and one day decided to fly down to meet them.


“I went down in hopes of doing a radio broadcast for Chicago Is the World,” said Rago recounting another friend of a friend who worked for the local radio station at the University of Chicago.  “I brought my camera to film the band playing and the interviews to broadcast later for the online website.”


But once Rago arrived in Makati, Philippines – a business area in the bustling city of Manila – he became part of UDD as they took him along to local gigs and behind the scene glimpses of their humble town.  The footage soon grew in to more than just five minutes of online material to share.

UDD bassist, Paul Yap with Tony Rago - https://www.facebook.com/tragecapone

“We’re really a camera shy band,” said Paul Yap, Up Dharma Down’s bassist, in an email who often receives messages from fans abroad saying they’ll be coming down to watch them play, but had no idea the amount of support they’d be receiving from fans over the film collaboration.  “We are touched that our fans put so much effort in this film.  The Manila crew who helped out are the same people who supported us since day one.  All thanks to Tony for starting and putting this together.”

Quick to acknowledge the many contributions in his “collaborative” film, from local Filipino fans turned “production assistants” to YouTube video snippets of time-lapse images and other documentary segments filmed in Manila, Rago only takes credit for “boldly asking” questions without the fear hearing “no”; a main ingredient to the overall success of finishing his film.  Something Rago would have never done in high school, just ask his mother Delores:

“In high school, Tony helped decorate the school marquees for events and school plays.” said Mrs. Rago recalling his interest in the arts when he was younger but points out the contradiction. “He was never adventurous…Not one to venture out.”  So when Rago broke the news to his parents that he was traveling halfway across the world to visit a band he communicated mostly through email, they thought “he was kidding”.

“Yea they were worried but I just told them to chill out, and to just trust me.” laughs Rago remembering the moment he told his parents.

“We were concerned for his safety,” said Mrs. Rago, a former travel agent who reluctantly helped Rago find the best flights to Manila.  But now looking back on his experience with the band, the Rago’s believe his trip turned out to be the “best decision he ever made” for both him and the band’s possible exposure to a wider range of audience.

“In terms of overall criteria, films need to have people of Filipino descent in primary roles as filmmakers or performers, or they need to focus on topics that would be relevant to a Filipino American audience.” says Jonathan Laxamana, Versola’s partnered coordinator for the annual Chicago Filipino Film Festival.  Laxamana stated that though Rago is not of Filipino descent, his film features a story about Pinoy culture, particularly music, which attributed to the line-up of another film in the festival.  “Since the deadline of film submission had already passed, Tony contacted us just for advice about supporting his film within the community.  But I thought his film’s subject matter, about a Filipino indie band, paired nicely with another film that we were considering for this year, ‘Rakenrol’, a narrative film about a fictional Filipino indie band.”  Laxamana’s interest quickly perked for Rago’s unfinished project and asked him to complete it by November…of this year.

“I wasn’t even finished yet and this was in October of this year,” says Rago chuckling, recalling his month’s worth of heavy tweaking and editing.  “Jon (Laxamana), didn’t even see the whole movie until the opening night of the festival, he just trusted me to get it done.”

Laxamana, a digital product developer for a textbook publishing company, Nieman, Inc., credits the 2001 film, “The Debut” – a first Filipino American film released theatrically in the United States from March 2001 to November 2002 - as the inspiration to create and help coordinate the Chicago Filipino Film Festival.

The Debut - Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6htYeILov58

“It brought a lot of energy in the Filipino community,” said Laxamana recalling other Filipino films, “Lolo’s Child” and “Small Voices” that sparked momentum from the Filipino American Network of Chicago, which Laxamana helped partake in.  “I had a background in writing about film, freelancing at the company AMG (All Movie Guide – now called Rovi) so I was recuited to help out, primarily focusing on film selections.  Larry (Versola) focused on the day-of-event logistics at the 2004 festival, and then we were asked to head up the festival the following year.”

A dedicated fan of Asian-American cinema, Laxamana was discouraged to find very few films about Filipino culture.  Though he chooses a good handful of feature films through networking and personal invitations, mostly because filmmakers in the Philippines don’t actively submit to film festivals in the U.S., Laxamana finds many films to showcase in the festival through open call submissions.

Courtesy of Tony Rago

“Tony Rago’s film falls under the category of telling a relevant Filipino story,” says Laxamana commending Rago’s niche in indie Filipino music particularly in the Philippines.  “A number of Filipino American people who have never listened to contemporary Filipino music have told me they’re now going to listen to Up Dharma Down.”


“Life’s too short,” said Rago attributing his favorite quote, and now official name of his film production company, as the motivation to take on this film project.  “Just putting yourself out there, in this case, can sometimes lead to awesome results.”


Though the film festival is over, the Portage Theater in Chicago’s northwest side is still dazzling tonight.  Only half of the light-bulb drenched marquee warmly sparkles the dimly lit North Milwaukee avenue, but the bold lettering “Filipino American Film Fest” still pronounces nicely to passers-by.  A marking in the marquee that Tony can claim he made, only this time he’s one of the stars of the show.

A Week In Metro Manila:  Up Dharma Down Trailer - 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSBOy4fVgEY