‘Agapito’ and a Duckpin Alley’s Journey From Bulacan to Beyond
‘Agapito’ and a Duckpin Alley’s Journey From Bulacan to Beyond
The Agapito Duckpin Bowling Center, a central location in the film | Still courtesy of Festival de Cannes Official Website
Tucked away in a small duckpin bowling alley in Bulacan, a story about family and resilience started to take form. That story, which grew out of personal memories, would later travel farther than its creators expected.
Agapito, co-directed by Arvin Belarmino and Kyla Danelle Romero, found its way from a provincial setting to the world stage. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and is preparing to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September.
The film follows siblings Mira (Nour Hooshmand) and Junior (André Miguel), who reside in a duckpin alley. Mira spends her days with Junior, who has cerebral palsy, and becomes his partner and his shield, facing the world around them with equal courage and fatigue.
Romero drew inspiration from her father, Danny Romero, whose work at the Philippine Sports Commission exposed her to sports and gave her a strong connection to duckpin alleys across the country.
Meanwhile, Belarmino’s connection was no less personal as the film is named after his brother.
“The starting point Kyla and I shared to somehow elevate the story is the simplest form of it, which is our loved ones,” Belarmino said. “It’s really just connecting it to my special child brother and her father.”
It was this shared emotional connection to the material that informed Belarmino and Romero’s decision to collaborate on this project, making the film a shared act of memory.
Immersions within the community
The cast and crew didn’t treat the duckpin alley as just a backdrop. Instead, they also immersed themselves in the community, living among the people who keep the sport alive.
Noor Hooshmand recalled meeting the owners and workers who guided them through the routines of actual game nights. The actors studied how the alley moves not just physically, but socially.
“There’s a theatrical element to it, which is the rehearsals, and building something together which I think we’re very lucky that our directors trusted us to play, that we would come up with something meaningful,” Hooshmand said.
It is through this type of collaboration, incorporating a sense of play and trust, that the filmmakers were able to foster a sense of family on set, reflecting the heart of the film in their own process.
The film builds toward a dance sequence, which both directors describe as the central point of the story. In that sequence, the ordinary transforms into something emotional. Belarmino and Romero let their actors take risks with the dance sequence.
“We really allowed them to move, and it became the heart of the film,” Romero said. Belarmino admitted that when he saw the finished scene at Cannes, he broke down.
The dance was choreographed by one of the cast members, Jeremy Mayores, who said that it gave the cast an opportunity to bond over and get connected.
“Hindi namin kailangan magpanggap na magkapamilya kami kasi throughout that process [of rehearsing], nagkakaconnect na kami,” Mayores said.
(We didn’t have to pretend being a family because we already connected with each other throughout the process [of rehearsing])
The freedom given to the actors produced something raw, even unexpected, yet it carried the strongest pulse of the story. The risk worked out because the directors trusted the process more than control.
Finding truth in performance and healing in collaboration
Nour Hooshmand as Mira and André Miguel as Junior in Agapito | Still courtesy of Festival de Cannes Official Website
André Miguel, who plays a character with special needs, approached his role with careful study. Beyond doing informational research, he also watched vlogs of people living with cerebral palsy.
By doing so, he understood the condition as experience, not only as data. His work showed in the small details of his performance, in how he carried his body and voice.
“Accuracy mattered, but care mattered more,” Miguel said.
Hooshmand also found something personal in the project. She shared that working on Agapito pulled her out of a heavy period in her life and reminded her of the value of community and of collaboration.
“Agapito felt like home. It felt like the people I worked with and the collaboration we built and even the story is very close to my heart because it talks about family and community,” she said. “Agapito saved me in ways that I cannot really express fully, but it’s definitely something that put me out of a dark place.”
The same spirit guided the crew. Belarmino described their choice to make the film as a “collective gamble.” The gamble could have failed, but instead it brought them to Cannes and now Toronto. Their leap of faith carried the alley from memory into international cinema. What once belonged only to family now belongs to audiences across the world.
Agapito cast and crew from left to right: Carlos Ortiz, André Miguel, Jeremy Mayores, Noor Hooshmand, Kyla Romero, and Arvin Belarmino
“Even the production team took a gamble on us,” Belarmino said. “And I think that is why the universe gave us this recognition. The journey still feels like a dream.”
Agapito travels far, but it always has Bulacan at the center. After making waves in the international scene, the team teased that their labor of love will finally reach the shores of the Philippines “later this year.”
From its humble beginnings in Bulacan to its journey to Cannes and now Toronto, Agapito carries a memory that speaks through craft rather than claim. The film doesn’t necessarily stand as a banner for all Filipino stories, but as one story tied to a brother, a father, and a community that keeps an alley alive.
…With additional reporting by Miguel Louis Galang and Yve Ventures
