The Cast: Coke Bolipata with a Video Interview

Excerpt from an interview of Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil conducted by Jasoe Soeda during the Hawaii Film Festival

Q: So, how did you get violin virtuoso Coke Bolipata involved in this project? Did you enjoy working with him?

At first, I thought of him as a musical director and I wanted to shoot in Casa San Miguel which is the arts center he put up in the province. I also asked him for recommendations to play the role of the child prodigy. Immediately he thought of Julian Duque. He is quite passionate with his advocacy to enrich rural communities through the arts, and with music specifically, that I thought he was perfect for the role. He was hesitant at first. He said the emotion for acting is the same for playing music but he wasn't sure if he could translate it to movement and voice. We auditioned him and he just had this sense of honesty, which I said is really what makes a great actor. Not only that. In the Philippines, violinists and classical music are quite elite, quite way up there … but he made the violinist real, down-to-earth, very human. It was fantabulous working with him and we all fell in love with him and Julian as well. In the movie, he is a reclusive violinist who is full of angst. In real life, he's a Peter Pan.

Interview:
English Translation: Coke Bolipata is the most famous Filipino classical violinist today. Since completing his studies at Juilliard and Indiana University, he has played with world famous orchestras all over the word, but playing with children remains his passion. About 15 years ago he established the Casa San Miguel Arts Center in his family's mango orchard in the fishing village of San Miguel in San Antonio Zambales. Here he teaches poor children from the fishing and farming barrios who otherwise would never get exposed to classical music. Together with 15 other musical instructors they bring culture to the countryside as their way of giving back to the community. In 1994 he established the Pundaquit Virtuosi, a children's orchestra composed of his most talented students. Many of his former students have today become professional classical musicians themselves.