Florante Aguilar is one the leading figures championing Philippine music art forms in the US and international markets today. He advances and popularizes Philippine music through the medium of film, recordings and live performances. His arrangements and compositions successfully craft the right balance between respect and redefinition of a tradition.

Born in Manila, Aguilar grew up in Cavite province where he learned to play the octavina in a rondalla group. By 16 he was enrolled at the University of the Philippines College of Music where he was trained as a classical musician. He later moved to New York under scholarship to study at the Manhattan School of Music.  He received his Bachelor of Music Degree at the San Francisco Conservatory for Music.

His constant search for a tradition-based contemporary Filipino sound led him to champion harana music. Aguilar has released several CD albums under the label New Art Media.

As a composer, Aguilar uses strong Philippine motifs in a modern context, and has been granted numerous composition awards from prestigious institutions including the theater works Lalawigan – A Tagalog Song Cycle in 2009 and Aswang – Tales of Lore in 2013.

Benito Bautista is an independent filmmaker based in San Francisco, California.  He travels back and forth from San Francisco to the Philippines to create his films.  He founded Wanderlustproject Films in 2001 and has since made short and feature narratives and documentaries including the award-winning documentary film, The Gift of Barong: a Journey from Within that is now part of Stanford University’s Stanford Program for International Cultural Education (S.P.I.C.E.). 

His latest offering, BOUNDARY won Best Film under the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) category at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival in 2011, Manila Philippines and also received the Special Mention Award at last year’s Cinemanila International Film Festival under the Southeast Asian Films category.  BOUNDARY recently garnered nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Sound at one of the Philippine’s most prestigious award giving bodies, the 35th Gawad Urian Awards.

Benito is also the co-founder of IndieEAST, a film series dedicated to promoting and exhibiting visionary and exceptional Filipino independent films in major cities in the United States. 

An independent ethnographer, photographer, film documentarian and explorer, Fides is the Executive Director of New Art Media and founder and co-director of Pacific Ethnographic.

She produced the documentary Weaving T'nalak, the visual essay Mindanao by SkyLab, Florante Aguilar’s Lalawigan and curated the T'boli textile exhibit T'nalak - The Spirit of Fu' Dalu.

She was a founding member of Likha Pilipino Folk Ensemble and has performed with the Alleluia Panis Dance Theater. Fides also directed the musical Love in the Time of Breast Cancer by Gayle Romasanta. She lives in San Francisco with her children Isa, Rafael and Juliette.

Emma Francisco
Assistant Director

Emma Francisco is a resident filmmaker and producer at the San Francisco based film company, Wanderlustproject Films. She has collaborated as a director, producer, script consultant, and editor in several short films, music videos, and feature documentaries and narratives over the years both in San Francisco and in Manila, Philippines.

She produced the award-winning film BOUNDARY (2011), directed by Benito Bautista. She served as the script consultant and assistant director for HARANA. Emma is also the co-founder of IndieEAST, a film series dedicated to promoting and exhibiting visionary and exceptional Filipino independent films in major cities in the United States.

Vist Emma's website at
wanderlustprojectfilms.com

Chuck Gutierrez
Editor

Chuck Gutierrez is a multi-awarded film editor and producer. His works have championed Filipino cinema in major film festivals around the globe including Venice, Pusan and London to name a few.

He is also a foreign correspondent for international news agencies such as CNN and Bloomberg. He is the co-founder of Voyage Studios which produce new breed of Philippine independent cinema with respected directors, writers and cinematographers in the Philippines today.

Rafael "Raffy" Magsaysay
Sound Recordist, Design and Editor

Raffy was trained as a sound recordist by a British director Matthew Rosen. They worked together on several television commercials and MTV videos from 1998 to 2000 . His first movie was the Crying Ladies in 2004 in which he received four nominations from several award- giving bodies.

After several years in the industry, Raffy started experimenting in sound design which won him awards from Cinemalaya and Gawad Urian for the movie Big Time.

Peggy Peralta
Cinematographer

Peggy is a graduate of the University of the Philippines and obtained her MFA in Motion Pictures and Television with emphasis on Cinematography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Awards include Best Cinematography - 2006 San Francisco International Women's Film Festival and Best Emerging Filmmaker - 2005 San Francisco International Women's Film Festival

Peggy has shot, directed, written and collaborated on over 20 films dealing with diverse themes and cross-cultural subjects. Her works are distinct for their heart, energy and perspective.

In 2008, she founded Head of the Dog Pictures, a creative agency based in San Francisco, California.
She lives in San Francisco with her partner Lourdes Figueroa, a poet and freelance photographer. They are happy when sunburnt.

Visit Peggy's website at
www.peggyperalta.com

Reverie Rodelas
Production Manager/Assistant Sound Recordist

Reverie is a Mass Communication Graduate at University of St. La Salle, Bacolod City. She's an Alumni of Maskara Theater Ensemble where she started her production management experience. Trained on stage production, she easily transferred her skills to the movie industry where she became Production Manager of her first movie, HARANA.

Reverie is a full-time project coordinator, sound editor and assistant sound recordist for Mr. Raffy Magsaysay and continues to work as a Production Manager for movies and MTVs.