Throughout her career, Aly Cabral has worn many hats: she’s been a vocalist, a DJ, a sound engineer for queer collective ELEPHANT, an award-winning film composer, and the list goes on. And now for Yellowfin, the first Filipino VR film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, Cabral became a mermaid.
This year, Yellowfin, written and directed by E del Mundo, was among the only nine films to compete under the festival’s Immersive Competition. This made it the first Southeast Asian and Filipino project to compete in the category.
Running at roughly 12 minutes long, Yellowfin centers on Popi (Eduardo Kawasan Jr.), who’s just returned home to his coastal village after spending years in an Indonesian prison. Detached from his old life, Popi finds himself searching for meaning in the Celebes Sea. There, things take a turn for the surreal when he rescues a stranded Indonesian coast guard, finds hidden treasure, and meets an injured mermaid (Cabral). The film was produced by Screen Asia and Create Cinema.
“It’s not traditional cinema the way we know it,” Cabral told Rolling Stone Philippines. “It’s virtual reality, so you need to wear VR goggles to watch it. It was screened in an open space, with everyone looking behind and above and to the sides because it was shot with a 360-degree camera. No dialogue, too, or super minimal lang. It was built to be immersive.”
Although this isn’t the first time Cabral has worked on a film (she and her brother Moe collaborated on the score for Some Nights I Feel Like Walking), it did push her a little out of her comfort zone. “Usually I’m not the actor, and even though I made the music for [Yellowfin], I was working more on my acting,” she said. “For this, mas naging matrabaho ‘yun kasi I had to take mermaid training. I was lucky I took a diving course before I knew I was going to be part of the film; so when I was asked to be part, parang sumakto lang na I already knew the basics of diving. Production just needed to improve my skills and teach me how to swim with a silicone tail.”
But it wasn’t easy for Cabral to learn how to be a mermaid while the production team shot the film in General Santos’ waters. “[The tail] took a lot of getting used to,” she recalled. “The tail was heavy, and it would make everything from the waist down sort of float, so it was a bit of a challenge. But that was why they really trained me, so I could get used to having the tail on underwater.”
How Do You Get to Cannes?
Cabral couldn’t believe it when she got the call from her producers that Yellowfin had been selected to compete at Cannes.
“I was in disbelief the whole time,” she said. “I think we were just told a few weeks before we flew out, and that’s considered an early announcement for Cannes. [W]e really didn’t expect the film to [be selected]. Our producer even told me that we submitted Yellowfin just two minutes before the application deadline.”
Despite the good news, Cabral and the rest of the production team needed to scramble to get everything in order to head to Cannes. “We had to rush everything, especially the visas,” she said. “I’m glad we made it, even if we didn’t really have full institutional support. Most of the funds, we took from our own pockets, from some of the production team’s pockets. I had to work really hard to make it to that red carpet.”
While Cabral acknowledged that there had been some financial support from the Film Development Council of the Philippines and Tarzeer Pictures, she also noted how the extra costs of finding accommodation in France and purchasing flight tickets really proved to be a challenge for her and the Yellowfin team. “We really pushed mountains to make it to Cannes,” said Cabral.
However, all that hard work paid off for Cabral and the seven other team members who made it to the festival. “It was so surreal,” the actress recalled. “I was waking up in the morning, and then immediately watching, like, a Pedro Almodóvar film. And then brunch, and then another film. And then I hit the red carpet, which was the same one that Rami Malek and Demi Moore were on.”
No details have yet to be released regarding a Philippine immersive screening of Yellowfin. But Cabral noted that the experience of working on the film, as well as helping promote it and watching it compete at this year’s Cannes, is a clear milestone in her creative career. “I never imagined in my life that I would be in this position,” she said.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yellowfin is a 12-minute Filipino VR film about a man named Popi who returns to his coastal village and encounters strange and magical events in the Celebes Sea, including meeting a mermaid.
Yellowfin is the first Filipino and Southeast Asian VR film to compete in the Cannes Film Festival’s Immersive Competition.
Aly Cabral plays an injured mermaid in Yellowfin. She also worked on the film’s music.
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Cabral had to undergo mermaid and diving training and learn how to swim underwater using a heavy silicone tail.
The team rushed to prepare visas and travel arrangements after learning the film was selected just before the deadline. Some members even used their own money to fund the trip.
Yellowfin is a virtual reality film that uses 360-degree cameras, allowing viewers to experience the story through VR goggles in an immersive way.
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