CINEMA IS NOT A PRODUCT. IT IS A SENSING.

There was a time when I questioned myself as a filmmaker. I was paralyzed by the need for perfection. You made us close our eyes, sit in silence, and just be Present. Then I started crying—and mourning over the young, wide-eyed filmmaker that I had somehow left behind (Siege, Workshop Student).

I’d say I was doing alright for my age, making a good amount of money punching shit into Premiere and After Effects, but honestly, it felt unreal considering I had almost given up on this dream (Whilhem Von A. Lorena, Editor).

Then we looked at the work.

Before seeing your films, I didn’t realize just how expansive storytelling can be. It wowed me even more to see the myriad possibilities a filmmaker can do when it comes to a film’s style, language, and voice (Mabie Alagbate, Writer).

I’m always struck by how his films use form to create sensory environments, drawing viewers into intimate cinematic spaces while gesturing towards the larger social and political worlds beyond the edge of the frame (Jasmine Nadua Trice, Author/Academic).

They don’t have to be linear, they don’t need to be flashy. They can be raw and gritty, meandering, or wandering lost. But the most important thing is that it’s got to have heart (Mabie Alagbate).

And then the teaching began.

You helped me understand cinema better—na hindi kulong sa content pero sa pagpu-push ng form nito (that it isn’t caged by content but by pushing the form). It is immersive, dahil may aspeto ng both time and space (because it has aspects of time and space), and the performance aspect of it (JT Trinidad, Filmmaker).

Your work as a filmmaker and a teacher inspired me to keep attempting to push the boundaries of cinema (EJ Gagui, Mentee). The focus was on the process, and the most important lesson for me was remembering to love. To love the challenges, to love the problem solving, to love the loses, to love the wins… and most importantly, to love myself (Robi Kang, Director).

This is the returning.

Somehow there’s the intimate sentiment you put out that often resonates with me—it validates my inner world. I feel so little in this huge metropolitan of cinema. Knowing there are film folks that navigate it through kindness gives me ease (Ligaya, Artist).

Kakaunti lang ang tinuturing kong mentor as filmmaker, and part kayo noon (There are few I consider a mentor, and you are one of them), whatever happens, admit it or not (Jerome Zamora, Filmmaker).

This is an invitation to unlearn. To stop looking at cinema as content, and start looking at it as a way to sense the world.

START YOUR MENTORSHIP WITH JOHN TORRES