Private Project

THE VAN

A son’s stubborn father refuses to move unless a broken down van comes with him.

*English subtitles available*

  • BERNARD BADION
    Director
  • BERNARD VALLEJO BADION
    Writer
  • CINDY LU
    Producer
  • Gilbert Galon
    Producer
  • EUGENE CORDERO
    Key Cast
    "Phillip"
    Easter Sunday, Loki, Tacoma FD, Star Trek: Lower Decks
  • RAUL ARANAS
    Key Cast
    "Sinto"
    Burn After Reading
  • Lydia Gaston
    Key Cast
    "Lourdes"
    Easter Sunday, The Sopranos
  • Payam Peter Banifaz
    Key Cast
    "Omid"
    Everything Everywhere All At Once
  • Pam Murphy
    Key Cast
    "Terry"
    Get Shorty, Single Parents
  • Chris Quintos
    Key Cast
    "Lisa"
  • Sam Cathcart
    Key Cast
    "Benny"
  • Chris Quintos
    Executive Producer
  • Julian Doan
    Editor
    Raspberry, In Treatment, Ballers
  • Jole Sanchez
    Additional Editor
  • Marco Bercasio
    Director of Photography
  • Malcolm Bodon
    First Assistant Director
  • Mike Blomquist
    Second Assistant Director
  • Val Tabian
    2nd Unit Camera
  • Christianne Cruz
    Production Designer
  • Tangelene Bolton
    Composer
  • Isaac Aaron
    Prop Master
  • Kailah Armand
    Set Decorator
  • Kao Miyamoto
    Hair and Makeup
  • Natalia Barzilai
    Costume Designer
  • Oscar Arambaru
    Sound Mixer and Operator
  • Bia Catbagan
    BTS Photographer
  • Mark Villa
    Assistant Camera
  • Kelsey Rivera
    Assistant Camera
  • Austin Aguilar
    2nd AC
  • Alvin Octoman
    Steadicam Operator
  • Joseph Kosty
    Gaffer
  • Nichole Ruiz
    Best Boy Electric
  • Andrew L'heureux
    Best Boy Electric
  • Val Tabian
    Key Grip
  • Brad Powers
    Best Boy Grip
  • Juan David Pinzon
    Best Boy Grip
  • Chad Knuth
    Dolly Grip
  • Kai Magee
    Swing
  • Erwin Quintero
    Production Assistant
  • Luca Emerson
    Production Assistant
  • Kyle Charmit
    Production Assistant
  • Wissal Choqri
    Production Assistant
  • Eric Marks
    Supervising Sound Editor
  • Cabba Cai
    Re-Recording Mixer
  • Hotae Alexander Jang
    Score Mixing Engineer
  • Josh Bohoskey
    Colorist
  • Charles Brown
    Color Assistant
  • Lindsey Orlando
    Color Producer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 30 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Tagalog
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - BERNARD BADION

Bernard Badion is a Filipino-American director/writer from the San Francisco Bay Area who loves telling stories with big laughs grounded in emotion and heart. He wrote on Transformers: Earthspark, an animated comedy at Nickelodeon/Paramount+. He's developed content with Imagine Entertainment, Amazon, Disney Television, Entermedia, and more. Bernard is also a proud alum of NBC’s Writers On The Verge Fellowship.

He is an award-winning alumnus of Loyola Marymount University’s Writing and Producing for Television program. Bernard’s directing work has screened across the country and has been said to “evoke equal amounts of laughter and tears” (Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival) and that his storytelling is “open-hearted and transformative” (Napa Valley Film Festival).

The road to entertainment started when he made the first feature film to originate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, taught high school for a year in Silicon Valley, cleaned stacks of dishes as a Top Chef Masters production assistant, was a 30 year-old intern (undercover because Asian don't raisin) at Conan on TBS, and now a father (his wife can’t believe it either). He also was DJ KidSpinz for ten years, for which he is deeply, deeply sorry.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The idea for The Van hit me like lightning at my son's birthday party earlier this year. Eugene Cordero, the actor in THE VAN, was speaking to my dad when I thought to myself that I needed to check in with Eugene as this must be a lot emotionally having recently lost his father. Also, I realized how lucky I was to have my dad present to celebrate my son's birthday.

In that moment, I was reminded of this documentary I watched years ago about the 2011 Japan Tsunami where a man installed a phone booth in his garden to speak to the ones he lost. It left me sobbing in the middle of my mother in-law's kitchen and hasn't left my mind since.

Those ideas smashed in my mind and I thought of the whole film in those minutes seeing my dad and Eugene. By the end of the week I had a script and it's been a fulfilling adventure to complete it since.

At the beginning, I was inspired by fathers, but I think I was motivated to finish this for my son. It's important to model for him people that look like us working through their struggles and imperfections.

In this case grief and how we hide in silence being strong. This was how I was brought up and it honestly never sat right with me. I loved growing up Filipino, but we are far from perfect people. I saw this film as an opportunity to speak about one of those things we never speak about. To be vulnerable and speak about how we feel. I've never seen a story about grief from a Filipino-American lens and I am so proud that it exists. Through that struggle of grief, I hope I can connect this story universally.

It means the world to share this film with you and your consideration to be part of your festival. Thank you!

- Bernard Badion