About

NOTE FROM DIRECTOR:

 

This movie is about "The Birth of a Cowboy" 

 

Western films have mythicized the idea of who these cowboys are. Even the Western film itself, and the idea of the American West, have been mythicized. I mean that our brains go to certain thoughts and ideas when these things are mentioned. Like the myth of American immigration, how this land has been so highly idealized, even though not everyone’s situation will end up being great.

My movie will explore this through the event of the Philippine-American War. For the past couple years I’ve been drawn to this event, how it was a catalyst in many Filipinos leaving their homeland for a better opportunity, only to be put into a life arguably worse than back home. In addition to myth, three themes I want to explore are: trauma, memory, and transformation. All themes prevalent in American immigration, specifically from this war, but also all themes prevalent in…the “birth of a cowboy.”

The title of the movie is Strange Boats on Strange Waters. This phrase derives from a poem by Filipino poet Edith Tiempo, The Return, in which a man recalls old memories, and wishes to tell others of his experiences, only to eventually decide that it would be easier to keep these memories to himself. Some visual comparisons are Too Old to Die Young, Twin Peaks: The Return, and The Harder They Fall.