Jarell is a Busan Asian Film School alumnus. He was 10 years old when his older brother brought him to a small wooden cramped cinema in their town in Southern Philippines. He did not like the film that day, but the image of the light projected on screen in a dark room awakened his interest in film. He started as researcher and writer for a drama anthology show on a national TV network. This experience deepened his love for social drama and human-interest stories. In 2012, he founded Man Overboard Productions and as a one-man crew with his point and shoot camera, Jarell shot his first short film with non-professional actor, Victor (2012) which won best film in Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. Two short films followed using again non-professional actors, both were based on real stories of childhood despair set in a difficult time in his town: Stars in the City (2016) and City of Gold (2018). Jarell earned his best director award at Metro Manila Film Festival and best film at FAMAS awards, the oldest award giving body in the country. Diwalwal, his first feature project deals with children losing innocence in a place very familiar to him. The project won the script development grant in Philippines Southern Voices Film Lab (2020). It was selected at at Nantes Produire Au Sud, France (2021), TorinoFilmLab, Italy (2022) and Southeast Asian Film Lab, Singapore (2022).
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