UP Pagdumala invites you to watch
iWitness Dokyufest
five of the best iWitness documentaries will be shown including:
Lukayo: Hindi ito bastos! by Howie Severino Seeking out Ramon Obusan, the new national artist for dance, Howie Severino and his team discovered that he has also been among the most ardent chroniclers of Philippine taboos, including headhunting and the ritualistic desecration of the dead.
Among hundreds of tapes in his eclectic house is vivid documentation of various rituals involving phalluses, giant artificial penises that symbolize everything from fertility to Judas.
After showing Howie's team footage of a bizarre, rapturous wedding ritual featuring lolas wielding phalluses, Obusan took them to its source, deep in what has traditionally been NPA country in the Sierra Madre highlands.
There they met typical rural grandmothers tending to fields and patients as barangay health volunteers. But on the day of a local wedding, they are transformed into uninhibited wenches, dressed like clowns and teasing newlyweds with wooden male organs taken out of their hiding places.
The newly assigned parish priest does not approve, and wants to stop it.
Howie Severino's documentary will make us wonder not only about the fate of this age-old custom, but about our definition of what is taboo, the purpose of such traditions, and how the past intersects with our present.
Dr. Nurse by Sandra Aguinaldo
Come 2020, the United States will need 1 million new nurses, opening the floodgates for many more aspiring Filipinos.
But the American Dream is limited not only to Pinoy nurses. Because of the massive demand for nurses in the U.S. , even doctors in the Philippines are choosing to take up nursing. The current starting rate for nurses is $24-26 per hour, ensuring a whopping P200,000 a month salary for would-be nurses to the US .
I-Witness host Sandra Aguinaldo documents the lives of two doctors-turned- nurses, called “M.D.R.N.’s” in New York .
Dr. Elmer Jacinto, a topnotcher of the 2004 medical board exams, now works as a full-time nursing staff for two New York hospitals: St. Vincent’s Hospital and Cabrini Medical Center, both located in Manhattan . He works hard to take home the equivalent of two paychecks for his family. But with the impending closing of these hospitals, his job security is at risk.
Yaffa Ramos, also a Filipino doctor, gave up her medical practice to work in a nursing home in Long Island, New York . Her main reason for leaving: from her previous salary of P10, 000 a month as a doctor, she now earns more than P150, 000 as a nurse!
But are these doctors turned nurses really satisfied with the choice they made?
Sa Mata ni Ekang by Kara David
This I-Witness documentary presents the shocking family situation of a three year old girl named Ekang. Her father earns a living as a holdupper, her mother as a sex worker. When her parents are out at night, Ekang is cared for by her grandmother - who is a pimp - and her jobless uncle. At this tender age, Ekang can already toss around swear words like the older members of the family.
Strangers visit Ekang’s home at all hours of the day and night. Though the toddler does not realize it yet, these visitors rent part of the house as a shabu den … where they can freely indulge in their vice.
Kara David gets to know Ekang, her father, mother, grandma and the rest of the family in this I-Witness documentary.
P36: The 36-Peso Challenge by Jay Taruc
36 pesos is the amount a Filipino should have everyday in order to go beyond the poverty line.
The number is the result of a nationwide study by the World Bank and the National Statistical Coordination Board on what is needed to survive in the Philippines . P13,113 per person annually or P36 a day divides the haves from the have nots.
But is 36 pesos really enough for a Pinoy not to be officially called poor? Is it enough for a healthy and dignified lifestyle?
In an experimental documentary, Jay Taruc finds out just how far 36 pesos can actually go. He issues the P36 challenge to Filipinos from different economic backgrounds – a teacher, a jeepney driver, a middle class employee, a student and a congressman. Their ingenuity, their priorities, and their discoveries are followed by Jay and his cameras.
Jay tries the experiment himself and realizes the theoretical aspects of poverty can be painful when tried out in real life
Brod is thicker than water by Howie Severino
A true tale of two frats, two victims, two mothers …
During the four Sundays of September, along festive Taft Avenue , thousands have taken the bar exams to become lawyers and future leaders of the country.
Hazing victim Cris Mendez had dreamt of going to law school and someday passing the bar. Instead, he was buried on the first day of the bar exams.
In the intense month of taking the bar and soul-searching over Cris's death, I-Witness’ Howie Severino explores UP Law, the nation’s leading law school -- now known for fraternities that produce both leaders and killers.
Unable to find the suspected fraternity, Sigma Rho, Howie spends time instead with the frat’s archrival, Alpha Phi Beta. Some of the APB brods were convicted for the 1998 hazing death of Alex Icasiano and spent up to two years in prison. One brod talks movingly about the stigma of being an ex-convict in law school.
Was there justice? Could this be a road map for Sigma Rho? Howie asks the mother of Icasiano, the APB neophyte who died. She describes the hard path to the conviction and ultimately forgiveness, and her relationship with the frat today -- which counts two Supreme Court justices and rising stalwart, Senator Chiz Escudero, in addition to her son among its proud roster of brods.
In a moving scene of the documentary, Mrs. Icasiano meets Cris Mendez’ mother for the first time to offer her condolences. Howie for his part finally comes face to face with Sigma Rho brods and is surprised by the kind of men he meets.
It gives him hope that Sigma Rho will eventually choose to do the right thing.
This will be on November 28, Wednesday,2pm at the UP Film Institute. Tickets at P45 only.
For inquiries text Klein: 0927-2894291 or Yeye: 09192262557
