Liway (2018)

Interesting facts

Liway is a 2018 Filipino independent film directed by Kip Oebanda from a screenplay he co-wrote with Zig Dulay. It about the experiences of Dakip, a young boy growing up in prison as the son of anti-Marcos dissident Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, better known as Commander Liway and referred to in the film by the vernacular endearment "Day", during the waning days of the Marcos dictatorship. The film is based on true events, with Glaiza de Castro playing the film's major lead.

Production

Director Kip Oebanda says that Liway took seven months to write, which made it more difficult because so much of the story was personal to him. To ensure the story was "more universal" and less specific to a single person's perspective, he worked with co-writer Zig Dulay, who could be more detached from all the emotions Oebanda associated with the story.

Oebanda was aware that the film's events would be perceived as politically sensitive, because the adult protagonists in the story were part of the New People's Army. In an interview with CNN Philippines, he remarked: "Some of the people from the left are asking me, 'Is this about the struggle? Is it about the NPA?' In parts it is, but that is a context of where this family came from more than it [is] the actual story...

In an interview with the Manila Bulletin, he recounted that the response a Facebook post he shared in response to the 2016 burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Philippines' Libingan ng mga Bayani (Cemetery of the Heroes) helped convince him of the need to tell the story of his childhood: "I didn't judge any political figure, I did not praise or insult anyone in politics, I didn't pin the blame on anyone, I just said 'these are the facts, this is wha…

In a Reddit AMA before the film's release, Kip Oebanda said that he sought out de Castro for the role, not knowing whether he would be lucky enough to get such a high-profile actress. Describing why he specifically thought de Castro was suited to the role, he remarked: " ...She has both the vulnerability and strength required by the character. Someone who is gentle and kind but is handed a very difficult lot in life, and found strength and hope.

Shooting for the film proved physically demanding, especially flashback scenes which depicted the capture of Commander Liway and Commander Toto before their days in prison. These scenes were shot in the jungle, and de Castro had to rush between the set of Liway and the set of a television series she was doing simultaneously.

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