A sinister fairy infiltrates a desperate family in Kenneth Dagatan’s “In My Mother’s Skin,” which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios
By Lucy Spicer
Ramona S. Diaz’s 2024 Sundance Film Festival documentary And So It Begins captures the growing movement to defend democracy in the Philippines as progressive Leni Robredo went up against Bongbong Marcos — son of former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos — in the 2022 presidential election. And So It Begins will receive its broadcast premiere May 12 on PBS POV, but you can already get to know Diaz’s work through multiple Sundance Institute–supported films, including A Thousand Cuts, which follows the tireless efforts of independent news site Rappler amid president Rodrigo Duterte’s lawless drug war.
Diaz’s work provides a window into many aspects of life in the Philippines, among them politics, health care, and education. And she’s in good company. Below, we’ve compiled a list of Sundance Institute–supported projects by Filipino directors, including another award-winning doc by Diaz. Read on to learn more about these films, which explore such themes as folk horror, coming of age, the search for justice, and more.
Aswang — Supported by Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program
Named after a Filipino term for malevolent, shapeshifting spirits, Alyx Ayn Arumpac’s Aswang documents a very real blight on the country’s population during the first two years of Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency. Duterte’s war on drugs promised to reduce the flow of illegal drugs in the Philippines, but the administration’s aggressive tactics resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings. Arumpac’s documentary unflinchingly examines how Duterte’s campaign devastated communities it was supposed to make safe. Check here for viewing options.
The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros — 2006 Sundance Film Festival
In director Auraeus Solito’s tender coming-of-age tale, 12-year-old Maxi (Nathan Lopez) lives with his father and brothers in a poor neighborhood outside Manila. Though their circumstances are gritty and they survive as petty thieves, the household is filled with love and Maxi feels no need to hide his gay identity and his affinity for makeup and hair accessories. When a kind police officer (JR Valentin) rescues Maxi from assailants, the boy becomes smitten, putting his family’s lifestyle at odds with his feelings of first love. Check here for viewing options.
Call Her Ganda — Supported by Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program
On October 11, 2014, a Filipina trans woman named Jennifer Laude was killed by an American Marine she had met at a nightclub earlier that night in the port city of Olongapo. PJ Raval’s documentary follows three women — journalist Meredith Talusan, activist Virgie Suarez, and Jennifer’s mother, Julita Laude — as they seek justice for Jennifer and spark an uprising that refuses to ignore both the rampant violence against trans women and the far-reaching consequences of U.S. colonialism. Check here for viewing options.
In My Mother’s Skin — 2023 Sundance Film Festival
As World War II comes to a close, a wealthy family in the Philippines finds themselves stranded on their estate and surrounded by Japanese soldiers. After a soldier threatens the family and demands they hand over Japanese gold that is rumored to be hidden on the property, the patriarch goes in search of the treasure. But his wife falls gravely ill after his departure, and their daughter, Tala (Felicity Kyle Napuli), is desperate for help. Enter a flesh-eating fairy (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) full of false promises. Writer-director Kenneth Dagatan’s gruesome folk horror story premiered in the Midnight section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Check here for viewing options.
Leonor Will Never Die — 2022 Sundance Film Festival
Leonor Reyes (Sheila Francisco) used to be a successful screenwriter known for her action movies, but that was a long time ago. Now she’s retired and trying to make ends meet. When an opportunity presents itself in an ad for screenplays, Leonor revisits an unfinished script, only to be interrupted when an accident sends her into a coma. But the work continues even as Leonor is in the hospital — while she’s unconscious, she imagines herself inside her film and can test out various endings, zany fight scenes and all. Writer-director Martika Ramirez Escobar’s debut feature won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Innovative Spirit at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Check here for viewing options.
Motherland — (2017 Sundance Film Festival, supported by Sundance Institute’s Producers Program)
Director Ramona S. Diaz’s vérité approach places the audience in the middle of a bustling maternity hospital in the Philippines. In fact, it’s one of the busiest maternity hospitals in the world. This intimate documentary examines both the calm and the chaos, the routine and the miraculous that coexist as doctors and families move through this remarkable place. Diaz’s Motherland premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Commanding Vision. Check here for viewing options.
