INTERVIEW with Film Director Matthew Abaya

While at the International Vampire Film & Arts Festival in Transylvannia (IVFAF) this year, I had the great pleasure to meet California-based Filipino movie-maker Matthew Abaya shortly before the award-winning screening of his vampire masterpiece: Vampariah.

When you were young, what did you want to be ‘when you grew up’?
At a very young age I wanted to do something creative, but when I saw the movie Star Wars as a kid, I thought I wanted to become an astronaut. That quickly changed when I realised that space travel was really different from the movies. That got me into movie magic. 

Tell us about your film-making background. How did you get into it? 
I started film-making at the age of eight. My film production company "I Don't Care Productions" was started as a joke when I asked my brother, "what should I call my production company?" I guess he didn't care what I should've called it. I kept the name as a punk statement as an indie filmmaker. We can make a movie without waiting for the industry to give the green light.

I took film-making production classes in community colleges in San Mateo and San Francisco, California, and I got my degree in Asian American studies at San Francisco State University. I wanted to major in academia to help me build up my story-telling. This gave me a lot of foundation for "Vampariah". Most of my visual effects training was self-learned through web tutorials. 

Why did you decide to make a vampire movie and why Aswang?
I was fascinated by the annotated Dracula book my father owned. It had vivid gothic black and white illustrations that ran my childhood imagination. This got me into vampires really early on. I knew that if I was to make a vampire film, I would have to have a really unique take on a legend since so many have been made since the original Nosferatu in 1922. That was when I turned to my cultural heritage as a Filipino. Our folklore is rich with vampire legends that many outside of the Philippines are unfamiliar with. My grandmother took me to Manila ages ago and we watched a film with an aswang in it. She challenged me to make one, too. I took it to heart many years later as I conceptualized that the aswang was a symbol of our colonial past and how we demonized our spiritually empowered woman as monsters. I designed my film to hopefully set things straight. We can be strong and  powerful. It's great that vampire lore already has this played up in it. Dracula from the original novel was a stranger to England as much is our Aswang is a stranger from a different shore going into the US.

Another thing about why aswangs. I guess this sorta ties into the significance it is to win one for Philippine folklore. It legitimizes our experiences and makes it part of the greater whole. Its what draws me to the genre. I can also recommend other academic writing on the topic of Aswangs (aka manananggal).

Issues of Trese (comic book)

How does a story go from idea to the screen? (and how long did it take?)
In 2004, I started with a short film called Bampinay. It was nearly a decade later that I thought technology would allow me to adapt my short to a feature. The feature film took 4 years to complete on a shoestring budget. We spent a year in solid production, shooting principally on weekends. Most of the time was used on editing, re-shoots and an elaborate amount of visual effects. I’m proud to say that a micro budget film like “Vampariah” was able to utilize experimental technology for some of the more elaborate scenes. 

I typically storyboard every scene to correspond with the script. It grounds my directing and keeps us focused on getting the shots we need to tell the story. Going back to the storyboards, I noticed that we matched them pretty closely. 

What was your role in the movie? 
I am the Writer/Director and Visual Effects Artist.

"Team Vampiraiah"

Tell us about your characters.
Mahal is a trained hunter as part of an elite force responsible for keeping the world safe from the “Undead” (vampires and other creatures of the night). Fueled by revenge, she discovers the consequence of hunting an aswang (a vampire of Philippine Vampire).
Bampinay is a 300 year old aswang who is unapologetic for who and what she is. Circumstances lead her out of hiding and to become a target for hunters. 

What was the biggest challenge and greatest joy in the movie-making process?
Scheduling a large cast and crew with a budget has been the hardest. Each scene had major technical and creative challenges. 

You won the Golden Stake at the IVFAF 2017. How did that make you feel? 
Words cannot describe what it an honor it was to win such an award. As a fan of vampire films, it seemed fitting to be where the legends were born. It is humbling and it felt good to see the aswangs join the vampire family in Transylvania. The IVFAF team was so accommodating. I really enjoyed talking with all the filmmakers and academics. I hope to come back to a future event. 

Tell us about your other awards.

• Los Angeles Asian American Film Festival 2016 (Best Visual Effects)
• Urban Action Film Festival 2016 - New York (Best Feature Angels of Action Contest, Visual Effects)
• Another Hole in the Head 2016 - San Francisco (Best Local Feature)
• San Luis Obispo International Film Festival 2017 (Visual Effects)
• Eugene Oregon Disorient Asian American Film Festival (Visual Effects)
• International Film Festival Hong Kong 2017 (Best Picture and Best Producing

Tell us your impressions of Transylvania.
I absolutely love Transylvania. It certainly lives up to its reputation with its gothic and medieval architecture. I member one night in, it was raining really hard and I heard the sounds of the church bell tolling. After my screening, I strolling the cemetery of the Sighisoara citadel with the rest of the festival goers. We saw a bat fly overhead. It was so creepy and beautiful. This was the best place to screen my vampire Film. It's also amazing to think that I'm getting the chance to see things that Bram Stoker never had a chance to see in his lifetime. All these places were inspiration to an entire genre. The people are really nice and warm to us vampire freaks. I have always been curious how Romanians felt about the Dracula legend. It was great that I got to learn a lot more about the real history. 

Abaya outside the birthplace of Vlad Dracula, Sighisoara, Transylvania

What next for Vampariah?
The movie will be distributed by ITN so sometime later this or next year everyone should have a chance to catch my film. 

SEE THE TRAILER HERE.

I wrote a few short episodes based on the continuing adventures of the characters of Vampariah as well as a video game that is well into development. Ultimately, I would like to make another film following the characters continuing adventures. 

Will you make more movies? What genre? 
Absolutely! I'll make more films- mostly horror, sci-fi, fantasy, but I also want to make historical war dramas. The film I’m working on now is a genre bending cyberpunk horror. 

If you could be a vampire, what kind would you be?
I would be a sexy day walker. As much as I love the dark stuff, I am strangely a sun-worshipper too. The Philippines is pretty hot and the days are long so I best be use to it. I would enjoy having the ability to live an everlasting life and having time to accomplish any goal I wanted. Also, who wouldn't want the ability to fly or have super human strength. 🖤⚰️🦇 Can I be a surf ninja vampire?