What does it mean to return to a path once walked: one shaped by memory, growth, and the people you shared it with?

The lights dimmed, conversations hushed, and for a few minutes, the room belonged to the screen. What began as short films soon revealed fragments of memory, longing, and conviction—stories shaped by students who turned personal and collective experiences into moving images at Mugna: Creatives Series – Short Film. 

Across the lineup of entries, the theme “Indak ng Ating Landas: Kuwento ng Pagbabalik, Pag-usbong, at Pagdiriwang” unfolded not as a single idea but as a series of interpretations—some rooted in memory, others forged by present realities.

Among the wide-eyed crowd sat Rico Angelo Derecho, a third-year BS Environmental Science student and director for the Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) Falcons’ entry, who looked up at the screen in frisson—his heart syncing to his cluster’s film “Make a Wish.”

A future victory that would resound in his heart and that of his cluster.

As the screening loomed, Derecho looked in hindsight on what came before this moment. Interpreting the theme proved difficult at first—broad in scope yet demanding specificity. The story only began to take shape through collective discussion, long brainstorming sessions, and the quiet moments that followed them. A turning point came through something seemingly ordinary: an old video of a person strumming the guitar.

“At one point, Jenny Malnegro, my co-director, showed us an old video… it was so nostalgic and very reminiscent of kids like us nung early to mid 2010s na magtake-take ng videos with siblings, friends for fun… and so leaned into that,” Derecho shared.

That sense of nostalgia became the emotional anchor of the film, later held alongside the inspiration of the subdued, intimate storytelling of Aftersun (2022). 

But Derecho stopped and recollected himself. Make a Wish was never meant to linger solely in memory.

As the narrative developed, it absorbed the atmosphere of the time it was created in—when conversations about corruption, particularly in flood control projects, were circulating widely. 

Rico’s ease came from his natural return to Mugna, or more so, to filmmaking. Having joined previous short film competitions at the university, he found familiarity in the collaborative rhythm of the NSM Mugna crew. Roles mattered less than the act of creating together, surrounded by people equally invested in filmmaking and storytelling.

Time, however, as it always was and will forever will be, was not on their side. 

“[We] were also busy with practices for Sayawtenista, and the other members were very busy with acads at that time, so finding the time na we’re all available was really difficult. Thankfully, nakaschedule kami the day before the deadline to film and edit and make do with what we can at that point. We settled with the location na talaga and improvised and cut out scenes na di kaya sa time,” he stated.

But what remained was a film shaped as much by constraint as intention. While the initial intent was to evoke nostalgia, Make a Wish ultimately centered on how remembering can be both a journey and a celebration—reminiscing the feeling of love, loss and returning home. 

As lights flared and applause swelled, Derecho basked in the afterglow. More than that of the brightly lit lights, and more than that of the accolades. Everything had now become a convergence of student paths, marked by return, growth, and celebration—each film offering a step forward, even when the direction remained undefined.

Alongside taking the champion’s seat, NSM Falcons also bagged awards for Best Direction and Best Cinematography. The Business and Management (B&M) Vipers and the Humanities and Letters (HUMLET) Wolves took first and second runner-ups respectively during the short film live screening and awarding on December 10 at Bapa Benny Tudtud Auditorium.