INTERVIEW: GERRY BALASTA

“THEN, THERE WAS THE SMELL…”: FILMMAKER GERRY BALASTA ON THE MAKING OF ‘THE MOUNTAIN THIEF’

Growing up in the Philippines, filmmaker Gerry Balasta always passed by the cities made of trash, their unmistakable stench lingering in the air. As time passed, he found that he just couldn’t shake the image of those cities from his mind.

“I knew people were living on mountains of trash, and it just haunted me,” he said. “When I moved to the US and started making films, I had to do something about it.”

Balasta’s film THE MOUNTAIN THIEF screens at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival on Saturday, May 1 at 12:30 PM at the Directors Guild of America. BUY TICKETS

The story centers on Julio and his visually-impaired son Ingo, who struggle to find a home in the trash city called Little Hope. Scavengers constantly sift through the trash to find scraps to sell, living in frail wooden shanties and sleeping on sheets of cardboard. For young Ingo, the town represents a stability and comfort he has never known. But just as they begin to settle into their new life, a mysterious attack sends their life into a downward spiral.

What makes his film so unusual is that instead of casting professional actors, Balasta organized a local acting workshop in the midst of the trash dumps and cast his entire film with local scavengers.

“I just operated on a basic premise that anyone can be good at something if they work at it, and also believing in the goodness of each person,” he said. “I just figured they would be the best actors because the story is about survival and they have a lot of experience and emotions to tap into.”

Convincing the locals that his offer was not a scam was difficult, since attending the workshop meant losing a day’s wages. But Balasta began to pay them for their participation, and after two years of cycling through various actors, he was able to put together his cast.

“At first they couldn’t fathom the fact that someone would hire them to act in a film. I had to gain their trust,” he said. “It was very hard at first, but they saw everyone working hard and really acting, so after a while they began to trust us.”

Casting for the role of the blind child Ingo was particularly difficult, since there were only a handful of actors to choose from. But then one of the actors introduced Balasta to Richard Casas, a 10-year old with hydrocephalus.

“The moment he interviewed he just nailed it,” said Balasta. “His memory is so good. He can’t read, but we just feed him lines and he remembers them. By the end of the he knew everyone’s lines. He’s just an amazing kid.”

Once they began shooting, Balasta realized their difficulties had only just begun. First, it was hard to gain access to the town at all, since the scavengers weren’t eager to have their lives photographed or videotaped. Further, they were angry to have their livelihood disrupted and threw rocks at the crew, forcing the production to hire security.

Then, there was the smell.

“It was so hard being in that place at first. It’s like poking your nose with a couple of #2 pencils and then up to the point where it touches your brain, it smells so bad,” he said. “But after a while you adapt to it and after the third or fourth day I didn’t even smell it anymore.”

Despite these difficulties, Balasta was passionate about the project and became very close to his actors.

“I was compelled to do something because how can you not do anything when you see people live like that and they need help? I followed where the film took me,” he said. “They ultimately became my friends and I wanted to help them.”

As a result of the film, Balasta was able to begin providing medical assistance to the actors and their families. The actor who played Ingo was given the first medical consultation of his life to see what treatment was needed, and the son of the actor who played Julio was given surgery for his club foot. A coda to the film lists the dreams and goals of each of the actors, ranging from learning how to read and write to owning one’s own junk shop. Through The Mount Hope Project, Balasta hopes to continue working with the community and help them reach their goals.

“We are sometimes so dissatisfied with how we live,” said Balasta. “I want viewers to be inspired by these people who have nothing and are still able to find happiness.” BUY TICKETS

-Lori Kido Lopez