Lights, Camera, and Non-stop Action! Jay Ignacio points the spotlight on FMA in the Bladed Hand
N.B.
My interview with Jay Ignacio happened sometime in 2019. Despite the delay, I feel that the relevance of the Bladed Hand and the story behind its creation remains interesting and valuable to the practitioners of FMA. My sincere apologies that this is extremely delayed. Nonetheless, enjoy.
Writer, Filmmaker, Illustrator, Musician, Chef, Improv comic, Actor—it’s hard to come up with a short introduction to describe Jay Ignacio. But if forced to choose only one, I suppose an attribute is more fitting than any job description—passionate. Whether it’s playing a melodic riff on Instagram or collaborating with the legendary Alex Niño on a comic book, you can really see that Jay puts his heart into whatever project he is working on. So when he decided to turn his interest to the Filipino Martial Arts, it was no surprise that what he originally planned as a small demo reel transformed into a much bigger project that brought him all over the world and contributed greatly to the awareness, appreciation, and interest in the Filipino Martial Arts.
NOT EXACTLY LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Although he dabbled in Moo Duk Kwan and Shorin-ryu in his younger days, Jay never really invested much time in Martial Arts. He got his first taste of arnis when he took it up for a semester at UP Manila—but ironically found it impractical and even baduy. “Ano ako, tanod?” Jay jokingly quips as he recalls his first impression. Although he would always be interested in Martial Arts, it took a back seat to his other passions.
Around 2009, Jay was toying with the idea of going to film school, where part of the admission requirement was a demo reel. Determined, he bought a video camera and looked for an interesting topic to showcase. After much deliberation, he settled on the Filipino Martial Arts—thinking that featuring a uniquely Filipino subject matter would help his demo stand out.
Since he knew very little of FMA at that time, he contacted an old friend—Dan Foronda—for help. Dan, or Mumbakki as he is better known, was in Moscow at the time teaching the Alpha Division of the Spetsnaz. With the permission of Mumbakki’s students, Jay flew to Russia for what he planned to be a 10-minute demo reel. Little did he know that it would turn out to be a full-blown anthropological research.
After Russia, Jay’s FMA odyssey took him to Cebu where he met and filmed some of the legendary names and systems in FMA— the Cañetes, Nick Elizar, Vicente Carin, and Drigo Maranga to name only a few.
He expanded his research overseas even further and flew to meet the legendary FMA Grandmaster Dan Inosanto, of Bruce Lee fame, at his Marina Del Ray (California) Academy. “I was very curious about the Hollywood angle, so I needed to speak to Dan Inosanto and Jeff Imada”, Jay shares. I had this perennial question na, “ano ba talaga fighting style ni Jason Bourne?”, and got the answer straight from the horse’s mouth that it was indeed, Filipino Martial Arts! “Then, I had Dan Inosanto talk about the Bruce Lee days—how he taught him FMA, the ‘chako’, and their involvement in cinema. That’s an important angle regarding the exporting and global promotion of Filipino culture”, he adds.
From all his research and conversations, the thesis for his documentary, which would later be known as The Bladed Hand, became crystal clear to Jay—FMA as our greatest cultural export.
MAKING THE BLADED HAND
The Bladed Hand’s official runtime is 1h 18min. Making it, though, took four years.
According to Jay, scheduling was a really big issue. “I really waited for them [FMA Masters]. Someone like Yuli Romo, for example, was away. Eventually, I met him, trained with him, and interviewed him.”
One of the most important things once he did meet them was building rapport, Jay intimates. “They needed to be comfortable with you— a lot of them felt used [by individuals who only associated with them to boost their own reputations in the Martial Arts/FMA community] in the past. I had to prove my intentions were pure. That is why you hardly see me in the film. You hear my voice, but not my face. It’s really about them…I was just the medium. I bought a discrete camera—a camcorder—for them to feel less conscious”, he adds.
Jay is well aware of the politics and rifts that have long plagued FMA. Making a documentary featuring so many prominent individuals, organizations, and styles meant that he needed to be cognizant of this fact and factor it all in. Fortunately, he received some great and practical advice. “I did not want to deal with the politics. The point is the documentary. What’s in front of me…I am just sharing it. I even had a waiver/ release form for them to sign. Something I learned from Diana Inosanto and Ron Balicki”.
Once the filming and editing were done, the next step was a screening tour—this was in 2012. “We went to LA, then 2 weeks later sa San Diego. I announced sa FB that if you want a screening in your city, message me. The 2-week stay became a 2-month coast-to-coast tour. What I screened in 2012 was different from what I released on the DVD. I trimmed it down”, Jay shares.
When asked how it all felt after four years of navigating schedules across three countries, editing hours and hours of material, putting it all together, and finally seeing it on the big screen, Jay felt very grateful. “It felt very special to do the screening in various cities. I felt like I really struck a chord with the MA community there”.
From there, the tour continued. Organized by the Kapatirang Mandigma, The Bladed Hand traveled to Chicago, then to Seattle. “In Chicago, I was given a long time slot for pre- and post-screening. It became an event. At the University of Washington in Seattle, puro mga professor nanood. I felt I was part of the academe. I even met Taky Kimura by chance,” Jay fondly recalls.
THE STORY CONTINUES
After the success of The Bladed Hand, I had to ask Jay if he had any plans for a sequel. Unfortunately, while he does acknowledge that there is definitely more to tell in the continuously developing story of FMA, he felt it was time for him to move on.
Ironically, despite Jay moving on from the subject of FMA, it became the springboard of sorts for his next major project. “I was always looking for the philosophical aspect of FMA—I got so fascinated with Arnis being born out of the conflict between Moro pirates and the Christianized Filipino population—which has led me to my comic book project with Alex Nino”.
Jay Ignacio continues to follow the stories he is passionate about. And while he does not see himself making a sequel to The Bladed Hand anytime soon, the FMA community is fortunate to have the spotlight he has shone on its practitioners and organizations. Through his numerous interviews and collaborations with FMA masters and practitioners here and abroad, he validates his thesis, proving that FMA is indeed our greatest cultural export—and an invaluable discipline that defines us as Filipinos.