Review Fix chats with “Every Day After” director Elisa Gambino, who discusses the Oscar-nominated film and so much more.
About Every Day After:
Elisa Gambino’s EVERY DAY AFTER provides a nuanced look at the complexities of healing from a birth difference that we don’t often see and honors the invisible labor of a sister whose love and action make it possible for her brother Jary to experience the everyday joys and struggles of growing up. EVERY DAY AFTER will receive its world premiere at HollyShorts Film Festival.
Growing up in Masbate Province in the Philippines, Jary has been neglected and shunned since the moment of his birth for one reason– his appearance. His older sister, Jessa protects Jary through his early years, then takes him in as a young teen, to raise him alongside her own two children in a fragile house on a hill. Jessa seeks out the medical care Jary has been denied since birth. And more, the support to begin his physical and emotional recovery.
Societies around the world place high value on appearance which can be traumatic for children born with differences, sometimes it takes one person, in this case, Jary’s sister, to change a life. The cleft community will continue to be misunderstood or re-traumatized if we don’t change how people with facial differences are portrayed.
Gambino, one of two executive producers of the Oscar-nominated short “A Love Song for Latasha” and director of the feature documentary WELCOME TO PINE LAKE and the docuseries WASTELAND, both on Paramount+, shares, “EVERY DAY AFTER is about the love between a sister and brother. Unlike other films which may take viewers down a path of sorrow, we showcase the resilience, struggles, and triumphs of Jary and his caring sister, Jessa. We highlight the power of sibling love to face challenges of healthcare access, poverty, and stigma.”
Review Fix: How did you come to learn about Jessa and her brother Jary’s story?
Elisa Gambino: We came learn about Jessa and Jary through Philippine Band of Mercy in Metro Manila. We were looking for a family in search of healthcare access and Smile Train put us in touch with their partner hospital.
Review Fix: What made you decide Jary’s experience was something you wanted to film?
Gambino: Neal, who filmed and edited the film and I, have filmed stories in global health for more than 15 years and we wanted to share a story about healthcare access and how stigma can be a barrier to access.
Review Fix: I have heard stories of kids who have cleft palates and they are bullied and shunned, and that’s a hard fact to know, but the fact that Jary’s parents basically abandoned him underscored the depths of shame associated with having a child with a cleft palette. Why is it such a source of misery for the people of Jessa’s province? Is it only in their province or all over the Philippines?
Gambino: We did not travel to Masbate where Jesse’s family is from. I’m not sure how stigma impacts other children but the staff at Philippine Band of Mercy did say that it can be hard to reach children when they live in remote communities.
Review Fix: I expected to be saddened by this story. I imagined scenes with bullies, crying, and mistreatment of Jary. I love the “gentle” way you make it clear that he was mistreated. For instance, we learn about children treating him badly during a phone call between Jessa and Jary’s speech therapist, and we learn about his abandonment by his parents that is depicted in animation. Both scenes do not brush aside the misery and trauma of the experiences, but they are not dwelled on in this film. Can you tell me more about your decision to show those painful realities of life for children like Jary without making them the main focus of the documentary?
Gambino: We wanted to share Jary’s story in a way that would, as much as possible, accurately depict his life without reducing his story to appearance or the many barriers he faces in life so we filmed in vérite to share Jary’s days in ways that are authentic to him and as complete as possible.
Review Fix: I came with my own biases as a Westerner and as an American about the lives of Jary and Jessa. The images of poverty or what appears to be poverty and the home that is held together by fragile materials filled me with hopelessness.
But in the next scene Jary is on his way to get his surgery to correct his cleft palette, the doctors and nurses are so attentive to his needs, he will have a speech therapist, and then he is on his way home. I was expecting an introduction to a foundation that provides these procedures, but you don’t focus on anything like that. Instead, you show a friend of Jessa’s who had the procedure through a program and told Jessa about that program.
There was something so poetic in that. I just thought that yes there are these powerful forces that come in the form of foundations and programs that come from the wealthy. They can practically transform lives for the better, but if it wasn’t for Jessa’s friend and others in the community, all that thay have to offer is mostly rendered useless.
What are your thoughts on that?
Gambino: Oftentimes stories about global health are contrived to show magical transformations and are centered in the action of giving to “save” someone. For instance, children go home after surgery and return to school, often times caring a bag with the logo of the donor organzation and everyone lives happily ever after, and this is simply not reality. Jary goes home with many more surgeries in front of him. He will need many more interventions like speech therapy, orthodontics, psycho-social counseling and more and yes, all of this requires resources and training but Jessa will continue to need support as she navigates Jary’s healthcare journey while working and caring for her children in the midst of fear and uncertainty. Jary is receiving the care he is owed, that every child is owed and we did not want to use his story as a way of thanking the organization that made the free cleft surgery possible and the funding organization supported our vision to share Jary’s story without including their branding. This is a story about Jessa’s hidden labor and unconditional love.
Review Fix: You juxtapose images of wealth and poverty throughout the film: one moment Jessa and Jary are dancing to music from a great music system and the next we see Jessa rolling pastry dough to earn money, the kids wear earpods, and her husband practices his singing on a microphone in their home made of wood and tin.
What did you want to get across to the audience by placing those scenes in that particular order?
Gambino: Jessa and her family invest in their happiness, they seek joy and stress relief and in her community, music is always playing, someone is always singing. This is how they live their day to day lives.
Review Fix: Though this is Jary’s experience, I can’t help but feel and think this is so Jessa’s story. Her love does not waver and it is so pure. I love the animation scene when she has that angry and determined look when she decides she will take care of Jary and she does. Also, the scene when she talks about the time she told her live-in partner that she wanted to Jary to live with them, and she told him she would leave him if he said no. And right after that, you pan the camera over to her husband smiling and enjoying an evening with the family.
I loved that because I saw that Jessa was not to be trifled with as far as Jary is concerned and I respect her for it.
Why did you focus on her so much? How did that come about? Did you know beforehand that Jessa would stand out so much or is it something in filming and editing a documentary that allows for something like that to happen?
Gambino: We did not know Jessa would be one of two main characters. We thought we were going to tell a story about the many obstacles that stand in the way of access to healthcare but instead we found a love story between a sister and her brother and we were so drawn to it, so the decision was made over the days we spent with them and since we were so drawn to share their story and their story is so compelling, there was no turning back.
Review Fix: There is scene in which Jessa and Jary return home after his surgery and we see him without a covid mask because of his stitches. Jessa and Jary walk so carefully through their village and they are mostly ignored. I couldn’t help but sense she was protecting him from danger. Is bias against those with cleft palates include violence that is tolerated by society in this region?
Gambino: I had not thought of that scene in this way. Jessa did not share any stories about physical violence. When I watch that scene I see isolation, that so much is happening in the community, basketball, young kids playing a form of air hockey/pool and singing and yet Jary is not part of it. He is not waving to friends, no one is asking how he is doing, he is alone with his sister and they hold each other and give each other support.
Review Fix: There is quick scene where you film the outside of their home and there is a bird in a birdcage and in the background is a plane flying who knows where in the night sky.
I was wondering about the symbolism of that scene:
We see this artificial, dead thing that can fly but this living thing that can naturally fly is imprisoned. It made me think of the absurdity of human life in how we make these irrational choices: 1. The choice to shun a little boy because of a birth defect that does not pose any danger to the child or others.
2. The choice to abandon your own child because he looks different or is viewed as unattractive due to Society’s ideas of beauty or did it mean something else?
Gambino: Yes, I imagine that one could see this as a metaphor for people who are trapped by the arbitrary perceptions of others, while some have freedom to move about without the burden and trauma of being stigmatized. For me, it is also a metaphor for the privileged class and how they often center themselves and choose to be oblivious to the needs of others, they just fly right over them.
Review Fix: But then I thought of Jessa’s choice to love her brother and do all the hard work that it entails. Am I on the right track here?
Gambino: Yes, Jessa’s hidden labor is important to the film, we wanted to share her compassion and power.
Review Fix: Are there any government policies, and/or advocates to counter this bias?
Gambino: Yes, there are advocates but too often their voices do not reach beyond the cleft-affected community. For instance, the cleft-affected community has been calling for Hollywood and the media to change the way cleft-affected people are portrayed in narrative films. So many villains are portrayed with cleft or other facial differences as a way to signify wickedness. Most recently, Colin Farrell who plays Penguin in The Batman has a cleft and facial scars, I wonder how children like Jary must feel when they see this type of portrayal. Cleft-affected people continue to be seen in TV and film as being inherently evil and this is very damaging for anyone with facial differences and it creates a far-reaching lack of understanding and empathy.
Review Fix: You begin the film with Jary and Jessa dancing and end it with Jessa and Jary dancing? Give me what was going through your mind to make that choice for this story.
Gambino: Jary and Jessa dance often to take a break after homework and because it is something that they uniquely share in the family and it is part of Jary’s healing process.
Review Fix: How are Jary and Jessa doing since the end of filming your documentary?
Gambino: Jary had his second surgery to close the palate. This surgery is more involved and painful than the surgery in the film, the recovery is longer. By closing the opening in the roof of Jary’s mouth, together with speech therapy, Jary will be able to speak with less nasal sounds and he will be able to eat and drink without the fear of foods moving into the nasal cavity. It should also reduce the risk of ear infections which are quite common with cleft palate. Jary is a brave boy, no child wants to go back to the hospital no matter how positive the experience and at a young age, he understands the importance of this.
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