HOY, HOY, INGAT! (Hey, Hey, Take Care!)

HOY, HOY, INGAT! (Hey, Hey, Take Care!)
by Norvin de los Santos

20:00 MINUTES | Magic Realism, Social Dramedy | PG | Strong Language, Nudity, and Violence

CAST
Alycia Avila, VR Relosa

PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR – Norvin de los Santos
SCREENPLAY – Norvin de los Santos
EDITOR – Tara Illenberger
CINEMATOGRAPHER – Martika Ramirez Escobar
PRODUCTION DESIGNER – Isha Dalabajan
ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE – Joee Mejias, Jarrett Cross
SOUND DESIGNERS – John Michael Perez, Mikko Quizon
PRODUCER – Alex Poblete
LINE PRODUCER – Sheka Ong
VISUAL EFFECTS – Shaine Robles, Tricia Bernasor
VISUAL EFFECTS COORDINATOR – Maria Estela Paiso
COLORIST – Dia Magsaysay
CO-PRODUCERS – 901 Studios, Wapak Sound Studio, Motion Capture, Lumino, Arrowhead Cinepoint, Malas Malas, Bonfire Productions

LOGLINE
Grief-striken in urban poor’s hell, a child eager for viral fame and his beautiful, terminally-ill brother embark on a rescue mission to take back a beloved family jeepney in order to survive.

SYNOPSIS
Baby dreams not only of viral fame but of elevating the mundane. Her brother Bhing, a beautiful yet ailing boy, hustles on the streets, tending to the “obsolete mammoths” of the road, then hustles more to make ends meet. As spectres of homelessness, hunger and fascism draw near, the siblings embark on a mission to reclaim their beloved family vehicle from a guarded junkyard and fulfill a job order from a film worker. This quest seems to be their only hope for a homecoming to the countryside – blending humor, whimsy and music in a fairytale-like narrative of nostalgia, grief, dream making and the pursuit of resistance amidst a developing urban nightmare.

FILMMAKER’S PROFILE
Norvin de los Santos a writer-director, multidisciplinary artist, and human rights activist, from an informal community in Mandaluyong City. After graduating with a Business Administration degree from Jose Rizal University in 2013, they took up Basic Motion Picture at the Asia Pacific Film Institute in 2016.

Currently, they work as an assistant director and script continuity supervisor in the film industry. Their first short film Papang (Father, 2016) won Best Film at the San Juan Film Camp and was in competition at the Cinema One Originals short film program. Their second short film, Hele ng Maharlika (Lullaby of the Free, 2019) was awarded the Special Mention for Subject Matter at the Cinemalaya Film Festival and they Best Director at .giff Festival of New Cinema.

They participated in the Active Vista Film Lab where they developed Isang Daa’t Isang Mariposa (101 Butterflies, 2019). The film was an official selection at the QCinema International Film Festival under QCShorts section. Later on, it was nominated at Gawad Urian for Best Short Film and was screened at various international film festivals and platforms such as Queer East Film Festival in London, OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival in North Carolina, Objectifs Film Library in Singapore and NOWNESS ASIA.

Their most recent film Hoy, Hoy Ingat! (Hey, Hey, Take Care!, 2025), won Critiques’ Prize Award at QCinema International Film Festival and hailed as one of the 20 Best Films of the year by Rolling Stone Philippines.

De Los Santos’ body of work includes music videos from local musicians including Clara Benin, Syd Hartha, Oh, Flamingo!, Rice Lucido, Top Suzara, among others. In 2020, they became a fellow at the Salzburg Global Forum on Cultural Innovation. In 2021, they joined Sikad, a cultural arts collective dedicated to advancing the rights of the urban poor.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I grew up daydreaming. On long commute rides to and from school, or inside the second-hand jeepney my parents saved for, I would drift, making other worlds in my head. Now that I am their age – old enough, I find it harder to dream, even in sleep.

When I began filmmaking, I dreamt of something large enough to be seen, to be known. But when my father died, it felt pointless since he could never see it. I didn’t just lose a father, I lost a brother and comrade.

They say children dream of beautiful worlds that jaded adults can no longer grasp. But many of those children are fighting to survive, against hunger, against poverty, against the violence of a fascist, neoliberal imperialist regime that steals time, imagination, and worst – kills kids.

That is why I make films now: to insist their lives matter; to protect their dreams; to honor their wonder; for them to believe they are the future. I want to make films about endurance – about braving life’s struggles my younger brother can watch despite losing a father too soon. Films that show the sign of the times as corrupt monsters loom. To tell him I care even if I am no longer around.