Anamamana by Christine Dela Paz

Christine Dela Paz's film Anamamana was submitted as a project thesis at the University of the Philippines (Bachelor of Arts in Film).

This film centers on two women, a mother and a daughter, with two different personalities, and how being stuck together at home further strains their relationship. The story goes through their daily routine at home, and the two characters find themselves obligated to live and work together. As they both face the dreariness of their situation, they eventually appear together in a hopeful dream that shows how harmony between two different people is a possibility.

The director states her influences come both from films with troubled mother-daughter relationships (like Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata and Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird), while her style owes to Marta Pajek's Sleepincord and Richard Condie's Big Snit.

The film itself is both a clever and nuanced story, with finely-tuned editing in a polarized blue vs. red world. Attention to everyday chores is the means to connect with the characters, and it is also the tool to achieve the necessary reconciliation. With a 2D design that leaves space for emotions to appear, Anamamana beautifully elaborates on a relationship that is mostly taken for granted.