Reina Bonta, director of “Maybe It’s Just the Rain,” tries to treat filmmaking like a game — but she plays games at a much higher level than most people.
She played collegiate soccer at Yale University, then represented the Phillipines, where her father was born, in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. “Maybe It’s Just the Rain” explores the crucial moment for her, her teammates, her family, and the Philippines, which was making its debut in a major FIFA competition.
“With my national team, I’ve played in stadiums of 60,000 people,” she told MovieMaker. “You feel like an ant under a magnifying glass, and big, simultaneously. You find ways to tune out the noise and remember that you’re still playing the same game within the same four lines that you have your entire life.”
She aspires to think of soccer — which people outside the U.S. more commonly call football — as a live performance.
“In the same vein as live theatre, you train to perform at a specific event – a tournament, a match – which unravels over a set period, and then it’s over. No-redos, no going back,” she says. “I enjoy translating that approach to filmmaking, where, in a medium where you quite literally can go back and re-do, or go for another take. I always try to preserve that sense of immediacy and presence.
“With your team, you go through many iterations of planning and preparing, but once the shot is moving, it takes on a life of its own. It’s in motion and it’s unstoppable, and acknowledgement of that is sometimes where the best work lives.”
The film just played DOC NYC, one of the most prestigious documentary film festivals, and continues a filmmaking career that also includes her directorial debut, 2022’s “Lahi.” We talked with Bonta about starting as a filmmaker, her political family, and the curious role of french fries in “Maybe It’s Just the Rain.”
‘Maybe It’s Just the Rain’ Director Reina Bonta on Capturing Memories
MovieMaker: Can you talk about how you became a filmmaker and made this film? I understand you were already on a filmmaking path before the World Cup.
Reina Bonta: There was always a camera floating around my house, even from a young age. My father was a neurotic home video dad – so every single birthday party and school play called for his trusty Hi-8 video camera to capture it all. When I had too much energy to be in the house, my parents would send me out into the backyard with a camera to film and burn it off. For that reason, I think I’ve loved the tactility of cameras and making films since I was three years old.
However, when I went to Yale, I was set on studying Cognitive Science, and on one day working in the neuroscience field. It wasn’t until I took a film class my sophomore year that turned everything on its head, or perhaps, right-side up, and I realized that my goal in neuroscience, of understanding the underpinnings of the human condition, was something I could better accomplish through making films.
I ended up pivoting entirely, and studying filmmaking at Yale, where I graduated with a B.A. in Film and Media Studies with distinction. And I’ve been balancing my two lifelong loves – filmmaking and playing football – ever since.
MovieMaker: “Maybe It’s Just the Rain” is such an evocative title — why did you choose it?
Reina Bonta: No spoilers here, but voice-over narration is a prominent tool that I use in “Maybe It’s Just the Rain.” A lot of those words have quite a poetic, ethereal feel to them. I wanted a title that both reflected that, as well as spoke to a very common experience in intergenerational AAPI families.
I’ve had moments with my Lola where she reveals a heavy or traumatic memory to me of her growing up as a child of war in the Philippines, and with a casual swiftness, writes it off almost immediately after: “Oh, but it wasn’t that bad.” “I don’t know why I shared that.” “Maybe it’s just the rain.”
The film, an unfolding of memories, is an ironic reclaiming of that sentiment, posing a reality where we can share our familial histories with one another, openly and unabashedly.
MovieMaker: I can’t imagine the pressure of playing in the World Cup, in front of a stadium and global audience, where everyone cheers every success and scrutinizes every mistake. How do you deal with that pressure? And does it make filmmaking seem less stressful by comparison?
Reina Bonta: With my national team, I’ve played in stadiums of 60,000 people. You feel like an ant under a magnifying glass, and big, simultaneously. You find ways to tune out the noise and remember that you’re still playing the same game within the same four lines that you have your entire life.
I like to think of playing football as a live performance. In the same vein as live theatre, you train to perform at a specific event – a tournament, a match – which unravels over a set period, and then it’s over. No-redos, no going back.
I enjoy translating that approach to filmmaking, where, in a medium where you quite literally can go back and re-do, or go for another take. I always try to preserve that sense of immediacy and presence.
With your team, you go through many iterations of planning and preparing, but once the shot is moving, it takes on a life of its own. It’s in motion and it’s unstoppable, and acknowledgement of that is sometimes where the best work lives.
MovieMaker: How did you go about this logistically? Were you the only one filming, for example, during post-game celebrations? Or did you have a crew? Did you have a crew at the games, or were you able to access existing footage, given how extensively covered the games are?
Reina Bonta: In truth, I never had any real intention of making a documentary about my team’s debut at the World Cup. As a filmmaker, and perhaps because I picked up the neurotic home video gene from my dad, I brought a small handycam that I had recently bought at a flea market in Chile when my team was training there for a few weeks, to the World Cup.
My intention was to capture meaningful moments, but I had assumed they would likely sit on a forgotten hard drive thereafter. When I was flicking through my footage after the tournament had ended, I felt inspired – and suddenly became very awake to how important this moment was for women’s football, for the Philippines, and for our ancestors – and decided to create a short film out of the material.
The heart of “Maybe It’s Just the Rain” is that very handycam footage, and I worked closely with FIFA to fill in the match footage gaps, as well as threaded in decades-old home archival material, to create a real tapestry of different textures and eras fused together in the short.
MovieMaker: I was struck by all the McDonald’s fries at the post-game party — does everyone just like fries? Are the players not able to eat McDonald’s during the competition?
Reina Bonta: There is naturally a lot of physical preparation that goes into playing at the World Cup. It’s the biggest stage that exists in football. And as a professional athlete, you constantly follow a strict training regimen, staying disciplined in a lot of different areas, to stay at the top of your game. But after our World Cup journey ended – and this memory will always be a tender one – we made a team trip to McDonald’s. Who knew loads of warm french fries and salty chicken nuggets would be the thing that consoled us and helped bring us back down to earth.
In the film, I also find it heartwarming the way that fries are framed as a symbol of girlhood. Yes, we are elite athletes. But we also eat junk food and sing ballads and jump on our beds in our pajamas.
MovieMaker: Do you ultimately want to stay in the sports documentary space? Obviously this doc is about more than sports.
Reina Bonta: I have a soft spot in my heart for sport documentaries. I’ve spent much of my life within the world of elite athletics, and while I’ve watched countless films about women in sports, I’ve rarely seen ones that are made by female athletes themselves. There’s a gap between experience and observation, and I’ve found purpose in closing that distance.
As a professional footballer, I’m drawn to stories that reflect the complexity of athletes. I find that athletes are often framed as one-dimensional figures of discipline or triumph, and I’m far more interested in the soft underbelly, in exploring the fourth, fifth, and sixth dimensions of athletes that we rarely get to see. I like to approach sport as a framework, where the “A plot” isn’t necessarily the competition, but rather the athlete and human behind it.
Right now, I’m developing several projects in the sports documentary space. But beyond nonfiction, I’m also working on my first narrative feature film, and all my work is grounded in that philosophy.
MovieMaker: Your dad is the Attorney General of California — a job previously held, of course, by Kamala Harris. Did you ever want to go into law or politics?
Politics have always been a strong presence in my household. Beyond my father serving as California’s Attorney General and my mother in the State Assembly, both of my grandmothers are lifelong activists and respected community elders. I’ve always been inspired by that legacy and excited to explore my own political voice through the powerful lens of film, a passion that’s been echoed and encouraged by my family, which means the world to me.
MovieMaker: As you’ve gone on your festival journey, have any experiences really stood out? Any moments, for example, when you felt like the audience really got it?
“Maybe It’s Just the Rain” has had an incredible journey on the film festival circuit: nineteen film festivals and counting around the world. Each stop has been inspiring and memorable. At Cannes, where the film was part of the Marché du Film, I had the surreal experience of nearly tripping over Naomi Campbell and stumbling on the red carpet, the kind of humbling, heart-racing moment that reminded me how lucky I was to be there.
Then there was our screening at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where my entire family filled the theater and my Lola glowed, and became the star of the night.
Most recently, I’m particularly honored to have “Maybe It’s Just the Rain” included in DOC NYC’s prestigious Short List, recognizing us as a strong contender for the Academy Awards and other awards season honors. It’s a milestone that feels both exhilarating and grounding, as well as a validation of the deeply personal story at the core of the film.
Beyond the festival circuit, the film’s impact campaign has become one of the most meaningful chapters of its life. I’m currently organizing a football clinic in the Philippines for young, under-resourced girls, which is an extension of the film’s spirit and an opportunity to give back to the community that inspired it.
It’s been profoundly gratifying to watch “Maybe It’s Just the Rain” take on a life of its own, and I can only hope it continues to ripple outward.