Just passing through the world like everyone else and especially drawn to the discovery and rediscovery of beauty in all its forms. Obsessed with Ozu, Brakhage, Kiarostami, Bergman, Yang.
‘Inshallah a Boy’ is a riveting portrait of a widow trying to keep her family afloat following her husband’s sudden death.
‘Asog’ is a transgressive docudrama that defiantly stands up in resistance against the powerful forces of oppression that dominate Filipino society. It’s a reminder of the importance of solidarity and resilience in the face of human tragedy.
‘Alipato at Muog’ is a documentary that follows the futile search for truth and justice by the families of those missing by “enforced disappearance,” focusing on the case of Jonas Burgos, a farmer-activist who has been missing since 2007.
This year’s Asian Shorts film program for QCinema features a diverse selection of socially relevant films from filmmakers from China, Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In their own ways they each deal with issues that afflict their local communities and continue to exemplify the unbridled power of cinema as a tool for reflection on the state of human society today.
Arab citizens of Israel are being used as scapegoats to defend the genocide charges against the country. If it was genocide, they ask, why aren’t they being murdered as well? The Roof is an insightful documentary that explores the perspectives of Arabs living there and helps us understand their experiences in the midst of this conflict.
Iginuhit ng Tadhana was the Marcos family’s first propaganda film, a biopic produced to rally support for their 1965 presidential run against Diosdado Macapagal. It was filled with blaring historical inaccuracies that laid the foundations for a mystical mythology around Ferdinand E. Marcos that has persisted to this day.
Wong Kar-Wai’s new 4K restoration of “In the Mood for Love” mutes its ravishing reds and replaces it with a tint of ambivalent green. This shifts the mood from romance to ambivalence, with more of a focus on each character’s individual processing of trauma and less on their warm connection with one another. It also further amplifies its sense of tragedy.
