Guesting in CNN Philippines’ newscast, The Final Word with Rico Hizon, Chinoy TV’s Direk Mike Carandang shares what’s in store for viewers in the newest season of the much-anticipated Chinese By Blood, Filipino By Heart.
For the next installment of the series, the Emmy award-winning director excitedly shares that viewers can look forward to a fresh perspective on the Fil-Chi community. The series will not only highlight the Chinoy communities in the metro such as Binondo and San Juan but will be reaching farther and ‘going beyond borders’ as they venture into provinces and islands all over the country to feature a more diverse range of Chinoy identities.
With only 13 episodes to air for season 2, choosing the next Chinoy story to share in the series is one of the main challenges for Direk Carandang and the team. He says that they overcame this by keeping their goal in mind which was to explore Chinoys coming from all walks of life. “We wanted to go beyond the stereotypes, beyond limitations and what’s expected out of a Chinese-Filipino in the Philippines and try to highlight different Chinoys from different fields, not just in business and entrepreneurship,” shared Carandang.
Viewers can expect to see stories of Chinoys working in fields which are a departure from the expected business sector such as entertainment, fashion and other routes that the typical Chinoy would not normally take.
Direk Carandang highlights that the series aims to narrate what Chinoys go through just to ‘break free from what is expected out of them’ and how they ‘merge the traditional and modern’ for them to be successful in their chosen fields.
Hizon also asks Direk Carandang the important question of why the stories of the Filipino-Chinese community should be told. Carandang answers this by going back to the main goal of Chinoy TV, which is to put a spotlight on the Chinoy experience.
Carandang shares that the Covid-19 pandemic is definitely one of the highlights of the Chinoy experience as Fil-Chis experienced being questioned of their loyalty to the country simply because of their mixed race. With this, the program aims to show that Chinese-Filipinos are indeed Filipinos and their loyalty is to the country.
Lastly, Carandang shares his biggest takeaway from directing the first season of the program and that is the value of discipline. “I learned from the Chinoys we interviewed that sometimes that’s just part of the reality of things, that you have to be disciplined, no questions asked. You go out there and do what you need to do,” shared Carandang.
Chinoy TV audiences can now mark their calendars as the upcoming latest season of Chinese By Blood, Filipino By Heart is set to return to TV screens on May 15, 8pm at the CNN Philippines channel.
