Kim Jones makes herself the subject of her own retrospection as she goes through her stories of reinvention and liberation
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This is an excerpt from the MEGA July 2023 issue.
It has taken a long time for Jones to accept her wandering soul because, she says, there’s a stigma attached to pursuing many things at once. As children, we’re asked to stick to our lane.
“I look at having many interests as a strength,” she explains. “I think, whether it be work related, personal, or romantic, the environment is richest when there’s that kind of cross pollination of ideas and influences.” She then mentions the author of the memoir Eat, Pray, Love (2006) Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote about comparing people to jackhammers and hummingbirds. Jackhammers have early on figured out their path, and they spend their whole lives focused and undisturbed.
And then, there are hummingbirds. Jones is one of them: “Hummingbirds will spend all of their time flying from one tree to the next, one flower to the next, cross-pollinating. And that’s also okay.”
The 35-year-old explorer likes using nature as metaphors for her thoughts and experiences. Naturally, she is averse to anything unnatural. Through her years of finding comfort in movie theaters—alone with the stories and characters—intuition tells her to finally pursue a dream: doing film. (“It’s the scorpio in me. I like being in a dark room.”)
“Film is so big,” she begins her self-assessment. “It’s such a gargantuan task, and it consists of so many tiny miracles. You never know what could happen. You never know if you’d have enough money. You never have enough time. You never have the perfect schedule. It’s also very collaborative, and you can create your own universe. It just fills me with this sense of wonder.”
Getting into film didn’t require a drastic change in atmosphere because, for Jones, she was only unearthing a part of her that has been growing slowly through the years. It was also her husband, actor Jericho Rosales, who encouraged her to pursue filmmaking. “He sees me watch five, six movies a day,” she reveals. “And I try to find out more about the director and all that. Maybe it happens naturally when you love something: you learn.” Then, she started writing “endless amounts of scripts”—some have been finished and there are others that have yet to find their ending. It’s all self-taught, she says, as she describes her creative process:
She and her team have already finished shooting a short film that’s currently in post-production. She wrote, directed, acted in it, and produced it with Rosales. “It was the best learning experience and the hardest because you don’t have a client. It’s just you. If you fail, if you don’t get the shot, if you pick the wrong lens, then it’s all on you.” They are also in the pre-production stage for her feature directorial debut, which she also wrote. Rosales is producing it, as well. Currently, they’re refining the story and starting to go through casting options, location, and budget.
“You only get to be a beginner once,” Jones explains, as she goes through the list of tasks that she had the courage to embark on. “I’m easing in because I understand that there’s power in being a beginner. You’re just dumb enough to maybe get it right. You know, you’re not jaded. There’s no fear. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.”
Jones says it’s the “micro-decisions and micro-moments” that led her to her chosen platforms of self-expression. “I don’t think the discoveries about myself are ever really consciously done, right?” she says. “I never set out to reinvent myself. It happens retroactively. I look back and I’m like, ‘Whoa, I’ve changed.’ Or ‘That was not the path where I intended to go.’”
Read more about how Kim Jones became a self-taught filmmaker in MEGA’s July 2023 issue, now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio.
Photography COLIN DANCEL
Creative Direction and Fashion Direction KIM JONES
Styling KAT CRUZ-VILLANUEVA and RYUJI SHIOMITSU
Beauty Direction AGOO AZCUNA-BENGZON, assisted by MIA CASTRO
Sittings Editors PEEWEE REYES-ISIDRO, BAM ABELLON and NICOLE ALMERO
Makeup RAFFY SO, assisted by JISON ALON
Hair MONG AMADO
Photography Assistant LORENZO YABES
Lighting Assistant LANCER SALVA
Production Management TRINIA DEL ROSARIO, assisted by RACHEL YOMA
Art Department Assistants ANTON MANGONE, ANTHONY OZARRAGA and RICO BONGHANOY
Wardrobe Assistant WILMA QUINDAO
Video Production REGINA ACERON
Videography KIM SANTOS and AIJALONICA LEI
Video Editing AUDREY SISON
Fashion Assistant BITHIA REYES
Shoot Coordination LAURD SALEN and SAMANTHA ESTANIEL