The Red Shoes (2010)

Interesting facts

The Red Shoes is a 2010 Filipino film directed by Raul Jorolan and produced by Unitel. The film uses a non-linear narrative style, using history to frame a tale of lost love and redemption spanning close to three decades, starting in 1981 with the tragic accident in the construction of the Manila Film Center, through to the 1986 People Power Revolution, which ended the 21-year Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, and finally concluding in 2009, which finds the major characters of the film facing the consequences of the theft of one of 3,000 pairs of shoes of the First Lady Imelda Marcos. The film won the Special Jury Prize in the 2010 Bogota International Film Festival.

Production

In the third edition of Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival in 2007, a screenplay entitled 2,999, which told the story of a missing pair of shoes from Imelda Marcos's collection of 3,000 pairs of shoes, was one of the finalists that year. Unfortunately, the filmmakers were unable to finish the entry on time so they decided to pull out.

Marvin Agustin liked the story so much that he called writer James Ladioray to present to Unitel President and CEO Tony Gloria, who was drawn to the story and greenlighted the project.

Jorolan, a TV commercial director, faced other challenges. Lead stars Agustin and Gil, contract actors from rival TV stations GMA Network and ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, had to squeeze in shooting in their competing work schedules, stretching principal photography, which took only 20 days, over 10 months.

Ladioray adds, "I didn't want to make an outrightly political movie. That part in our history was very decisive, I wanted to make a story that can use that turning point as a point of redemption for everyone. The shoes are a metaphor — I wanted to ask the question, would you steal for love?"

Jorolan speaks of another metaphor that was crucial to the story, the bridge. "A bridge connotes relationship, whether it's been cut short, it still holds its purpose, similar to a relationship that's been broken off. (It still holds significance)."

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