Tahan na

• Main Authors: Llanes, Ken, Romero, Angela, Yang, Fiona
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Street life > Philippines; Begging > Philippines; Poverty > Philippines; Communication
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/9066
• Institution: De La Salle University

Everyone has their own way of escaping reality. For children, playing pretend is a great escape from current situations as it allows them to freely express how they generally feel about life. The idea of make-believe creates a safe space for children to combine their present knowledge of life, to reflect their fears and also their desires. In this 12-minute film, we explore the idea of street children and the use of their imagination as a form of escape from the struggles of their daily living. Some street children could be seen wandering around without adult supervision, and are left to figure out life as they wake, day by day. This social reality is ever present and related to poverty with which the government is trying to solve. Tahan na poses the problem of hunger, tiredness and frustration of two street kids, who are siblings, living in Metro Manila. They are left to fend for their lives after being abandoned by their family at a young age. The film also discusses the length of which street children would go, to protect, maintain, and sustain the idea of a perfect world in their head a world in which they believe is impossible to achieve once they are put back to their unfortunate circumstance. The title, Tahan na is a play on the word tahanan, meaning house or home, the siblings concept of imagination revolves around an ideal home that they can call somewhat of a paradise despite its simplicity. In this pretend world, they get to eat their favorite food while having a vast space for them to play. It is their source of comfort. The phrase tahan na, also means to stop crying. The conflict of the two characters intertwine as Jhomar struggles in providing for Jhermelyn, who constantly whines and desires for a much better life. He soon comes into conflict with himself as he continuously fights to be a good brother aiming to be mature and wise at just the tender age of 12, whose sense of right and wrong is influenced by a traumatizing past and the streets they are now openly exposed to. Jhomar is now faced with making difficult choices in order to keep his sister comfortable, protected and satisfied. To what length will Jhomar go, to keep his sister happy?