Glimpse
After a drug induced hook-up and near death experience, Gabriel, a queer melancholy musician, receives unsettling visions from their long-forgotten Pilipino ancestors.
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Earl PausDirector
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Earl PausWriter
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Earl PausProducer
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Earl PausKey Cast"Gabriel"
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Trixi Anne AgiaoKey Cast"Emissary of Death"
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Edrian PangilinanKey Cast"Mangkukulam"
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Martha GatersKey Cast"Cafe Manager"
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Haven Ongoco RittershoferKey Cast"Hook Up"
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April AbarrondoKey Cast"Bruha"
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WINLOVEKey Cast"Manong"
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Mjay MendozaKey Cast"Revolutionary"
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Vicool PatelKey Cast"Therapist"
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Marwan AzzamKey Cast"Cafe Customer"
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Marissa RoxasDirector of Photography
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Leah LombosAssistant Director
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Genevieve Calpito CastroEditor
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Genevieve Calpito CastroSound Design
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Genevieve Calpito CastroColorist
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Earl PausArt Department/Wardrobe
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Alyssa Vitata LegaspiGraphic Artist
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N.F Go Paus1st AC
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Marissa RoxasGaffer / Grip
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Joey Casora IIISound Mixer
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Alicia RicafrenteProps
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Rendel BalisiProduction Assistants
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April AbarrondoProduction Assistants
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WINLOVEProduction Assistants
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Anthony JongcoProduction Assistants
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Tiffany LyProduction Assistants
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Marwan AzzamProduction Assistants
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Lemuel CalpitoVFX , Moth Animation
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Tin Cagayat EnjandaTagalog Translators
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Aica Delos Reyes TrinanesTagalog Translators
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Edrian PangilinanTagalog Translators
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Arianne TestaBaybayin Translator
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“REINCARNAGE” Written/Performed by Mirrored FatalityMusic
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“There’s Nothing There” By Earl PausMusic
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Project Type:Experimental, Short
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Genres:Supernatural, Drama, Fantasy
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Runtime:11 minutes 11 seconds
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Completion Date:June 29, 2023
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English, Tagalog
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:2:35
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
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San Diego Filipino Film FestivalSan Diego, CA
United States
September 4, 2023
Audience Choice Award -
San Diego Short Film FestivalSan Diego
United States
June 29, 2024
Best First Time Filmmaker Award & Audience Choice Award
Earl Paus (He/They/Them) is an awarding-winning Director & Actor. Their filmmaking style is inspired by the 90’s New Queer Cinema movement & coming of age indie films like Party Monster & KIDS. Inspired by directors like that of Gregg Araki, horror & fantasy films like Luca Guadagnino’s Susperia, as well as directors like Ari Aster & Jordan Peel. Themes usually include Filipino cultural myths, magic & spirituality as a way out for underdog characters living on the fringes of society.
Glimpse is a short film that I see in the future as a full length feature. Glimpse highlights the melancholy life of Gabriel, a queer Filipinx-American musician. Through a meaningless drug induced hook up, we follow Gabriel’s trip into an overdose and into a dreamy unsettling world of Philippine ancestors, historical figures throughout the diaspora, and ancient magical practices rooted in the animism found in the Philippines. Gabriel’s visions awaken a curiosity to understand what their ancestors are trying to tell them.
This is a queer supernatural film because I believe spirituality is ancestral to queerness. The queer Filipino Shaman known as babaylans and katalonans were highly revered in pre-colonial times and were seen as mediums between this world and the spirit world. Gabriel is a fictional character beginning to realize their spiritual gifts as a queer person.
I also use ancient Tagalog script known as baybayin in the film that’s mainly spoken in English to reach the diaspora specifically. A way for diaspora to reconnect with our roots is to sometimes first romanticize the motherland and precolonial times. Glimpse adds a sense of supernatural and fantasy to the myth & folklore of seeing a moth in the home and believing that it’s a loved one that had passed who is visiting us in this earthly realm. I take it a step further and bring in visuals of Filipino characters some may recognize through Filipino history and mythology such as the Delano Manong, the katalonan, and the Mangkukulam. I briefly reveal these characters as a visual tribute to those Filipinos that may have these characters as actual loved ones or family members in their lineage. These ancestors are very real to our identity as Filipinos even if they have been long forgotten, they still impact us today.
Through the soft colors and blurry, dreamy aesthetic of the film, I aimed to capture the near death/life experience of that special and magical liminal space... “the in-between”, which is also very queer and trans. Even with the over-head shots, I saw that as the view Gabriel’s ancestors and spirit guides are having when taking a glimpse into Gabriel’s life here on earth.
Lastly, I’d like to quote Jose Rizal because the reason Gabriel is getting a visual feast in Glimpse, is because they didn’t really know themselves that well or their family history. And that’s like a lot of us Fil-ams in diaspora. “Know history, know self. No history, no self.”