Sharlene Pineda
March 23, 2025 | 3:22 PM PHT
READ – With women’s month coming into full bloom, women’s stories must be highlighted. One of these themes is menstruation, which has always been a large part of a woman’s life. Girls have their own experiences when it comes to menstruation, especially in getting one’s first period. Some are filled with excitement with the thought of entering womanhood, while some are anxious at the thought of giving up their childhood. A treasure chest could explode at the amount of what-ifs, superstitions, and stigmas around menstruation, and all of these things could be scary for a child. These stigmas only create unwanted anxiety and fear for girls, when in reality, periods are a normal occurrence and should not be taboo at all.
This March, people fuel conversations around womanhood with the celebration of Women’s Month. Film and media can be a great way to highlight these themes, especially as these mediums allow people to see these messages through the art of visual storytelling.
That said, March is also the month of Puregold CinePanalo film festival’s theatrical run, and alongside the powerful roster of creative short films and full-length films is Taympers, a short film created by PUP student filmmaker Naiah Mendoza.
Taympers is a film that revolves around a child, Yumi (Atasha Eve Franco), who grows anxious as she sees her older sister Chloe (Miel Espinoza), going through sudden pain. Accompanied by Yumi’s best friend, Heidi (Amber Santaolaya), and their grandmother Linda (Elizabeth Luntayao Reginaldo), Yumi is introduced to the concept of menstruation. Throughout the film, the audience gets to see a girl getting her first period through the perspective of her younger sister. Yumi approaches menstruation with much anxiety, especially as she watches her sister go through foreign and seemingly painful changes.
Seeing Taympers, people are also reminded of the community women have built, with shared experiences as its foundation. The film reinstates this as Yumi, Chloe, and their grandmother Linda show genuine support to each other as Chloe goes through her first period. From elder figures to female friends, women have fostered a community with a caring nature.
At its core, the film presses on the need for more discussions on women’s sexual reproductive health and all it entails–from the importance of free and accessible healthcare for women, debunking stigmas around one’s first period, and the importance of making women’s healthcare and menstruation a conversation normalized and free of judgement. This makes Taympers a film filled with heart, innocence, and a true love for womanhood.