I began filming the Ati-atihan festival in my hometown on Bantayan in 2010. At that time I was deep in the process of My Navel Is Buried in the Sea, documenting my friends, family, and neighbours who were fisherfolk and international seafarers. Their stories were complicated and important for us to open up within our community. We spoke about danger at sea, the violence of commercial fishing, the destruction of our waters, the loneliness of being away from home, and the dislocation brought about by the extreme income gap between international seafarers and fishermen to our community.