Director Jade Castro Knows We’re Ready For A BL Drama Marathon at the Cinema

All The Things I Leave You (Patawid) is set to become the first Philippine series to screen in local cinemas. 

The Boys’ Love (BL) drama, directed by Jade Castro (Zombadings, Endo), follows young Ilokano boy Jorge (Benedix Ramos) as he helps his grandfather Tino (Manolito Gonzales) keep their family restaurant afloat. Jorge’s world takes an unexpected turn when he meets Kiko (Justin Paul Basobas), a struggling orphan who joins the restaurant’s team as its social media assistant and delivery boy. As Jorge and Kiko’s bond deepens into a romance, echoes of Tino’s own long-lost love story begin to resurface.

All six episodes of the series will be screened in their entirety in 15 SM Cinema locations nationwide starting June 17, but this isn’t the first time that the project has made it to the big screen. Last April, All The Things I Leave You was screened at a private theatrical screening, with the cast and crew — including Castro, co-writer and producer Lance D. Collins, and producer Alemberg Ang — in attendance. Since then, the series has found its way onto festival circuits, screening at film festivals in New York, Nigeria, Argentina, and China.

All The Things I Leave You stands out as a unique BL drama, weaving together elements of Filipino history and Ilokano culture, with much of the series mainly spoken in Ilokano. But at the start, the team behind it wasn’t so sure if audiences would get the chance to watch their series. “We don’t know when it will be [released] yet,” said Ang in a 2025 interview with Rolling Stone Philippines. “We still need to find a proper platform, and the right festivals to screen the series.”

Fast forward a year later, and things seem to be looking up for the BL drama. “I think BL is not a problem anymore, commercially,” Castro said in a recent phone call. “I think people know na there’s an audience for BL. ‘Yun nga lang, mas nasa streaming yung [BL] than in cinemas. But I don’t think it’s much of a hindrance anymore.”

In this interview, Castro spoke on what drew him to directing All The Things I Leave You, the research that goes into making a series set in Ilocos Norte, and why it was so important to get the BL drama screened in Philippine cinemas.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. 

Did you always have a cinematic release in mind for All The Things I Leave You?

I think everything happened the way it was planned. It was really planned naman na ipalabas muna sa festivals kasi parang may interest here and there. Since you last saw it, parang ang dami na nitong napuntahang festivals. Nagulat din nga kami [kasi] parang nag-snowball na lang siya. Parang ngayon, may life na siya sa film.

So talagang naka-plano na ganun muna bago siya i-release for streaming. Kasi ang goal talaga ni Lance was na it’s a community show about Ilocanos, ‘di ba? The goal really was to get people to watch it for free somewhere down the road, na madali nila ma-access. Pero talagang pinlano naman na tapusin muna ‘yung festival run. Tapos bigla na lang nagkaroon ng theatrical run. So ‘yun ‘yung surprising for me.

At the screening, I remember Lance and Alemberg told me that you were looking for a streaming platform for the series.

Yes, pero plan lang ‘yun, hindi pa siya naka-set. When we started making it, alam ko ‘yung talagang gusto ni Lance… But we really wanted ‘yung mga taga-Ilocos to watch it sa mga sinehan sa Ilocos. So ‘yun, naging SM Cinema exclusive. I think in around 15 cinemas.

I also remember Lance mentioning that a lot of the series was based on the real-life story of his grandparents. What parts of the story made it to the screen and what parts did you add?

So it’s based on his lolo. Pero only the element of the box of letters… Parang Lance found out na his lola kept a box of his lolo’s letters, and then na-discover na may nakatago. Hanggang doon lang. ‘Yung part na his lolo has a lover was an imagined story. 

Pero the story of the Sakadas [is] real, ‘yung mga first Filipino migrant workers who moved from Ilocos Norte to Hawaii [in 1906]. That part was always well-researched. With the writers, we did a lot. Nag-immerse kami, nag-research kami. We went to San Nicolas and Laoag [in Ilocos Norte] to gather information. 

And then, of course, it had to be BL. Lance wanted to do a BL series, so we really wrote it to add the genre elements. We started writing the scripts, but then I got jailed. I got unlawfully arrested. Nag-stall ‘yun.

We’d already done the location check through bago ako ma-arrest. But they waited for me to be released. Akala ko ibinigay nila sa iba to finish the project, but thankfully… I started working on it right away. Ako na ‘yung tumapos ng scripts right before we shot. 

When you were bringing All The Things I Leave You to different festivals or trying to get it screened in local cinemas, did you experience any pushback about screening a BL drama?

Well, I think BL is not a problem anymore, commercially. I think people know na there’s an audience for BL. ‘Yun nga lang, mas nasa streaming ‘yung [BL] than in cinemas. But I don’t think it’s much of a hindrance anymore.

Ang nag-worry ako na baka maging hindrance is the language. Because it’s in Ilokano, it might seem like it’s for a very small market. I mean, when was the last time you saw a commercial run of a Filipino film na in a language that isn’t Tagalog? There was Patay Na Si Hesus, but that was in [2016]. And wala masyadong examples eh, wala masyadong track record.

Pero sa mga festival naman, I think Lance submitted it to a few, tapos nag-snowball na lang and we got invited sa iba. Nagulat ako, kasi it’s like, “Oh, we’re showing in Africa, oh, we’re showing in China.”

Would you say that All The Things I Leave You was one of your more challenging projects?

Yes. But you know, it’s such a different [show] and that was one of the reasons why I signed on in the first place. Aside from gender, there were ‘yung mga labor issues, all of which are really close to my heart. And ‘yung reckoning with the past, especially with this notion na when you become an OFW na parang your life will be better. But it’s still hard. Kaya I wanted to do this project, kasi may mga ganung klaseng elements, and on top of that, naka-blend sila sa BL genre, which was really exciting and challenging for me. Kaya I’m really proud of this project and how it turned out.

All The Things I Leave You begins screening in Philippine cinemas on June 17.