WHEN all the world is seeking to reflect on the lessons emerging from the pandemic, a group of filmmakers is sounding out the call to resist the temptation of forgetfulness.
Daang Dokyu, a festival showcasing a selection of documentary films, sounds this call with its lineup of opening films under the theme “Martial Law, Never Again.”
Slated from September 19 to 21, Daang Dokyu’s opening salvo will feature ABS-CBN’s documentary, titled Marcos: A Malignant Spirit, and Ramona Diaz’s Imelda. It will also premiere Kiri Dalena’s Alunsina and Nettie Wild’s A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution. Completing the lineup is Lito Tiongson’s Mendiola Massacre. All films will be streamed online.
According to Jewel Maranan, one of the festival directors, “The opening program is not just a lineup of films to remember the past but a statement for us in the present. Our generation has been witnessing the erosion of our freedoms, unbelievable abuses of power, and a growing confusion about the future. We think documentaries can help make up our minds about the lessons already learned, mistakes we shouldn’t repeat, and what we shouldn’t allow again to be done to us as a people.”
Marcos: A Malignant Spirit, hosted by Angelo Castro Jr., is a rarely seen film even by those who have been studying Marcos archives. It contains rare footage and recorded conversations. This 1986 film is about the plunder of a nation and it looks into the inhuman manner in which Marcos and his henchmen systematically drained the economy in their greedy and unrelenting quest for fortune.
Imelda is a 2003 documentary film about the life of Imelda Marcos. The film documents her childhood, marriage to Ferdinand Marcos, her role in the dictatorship, her family’s exile in Hawaii, and their eventual return to the Philippines. It won the Excellence in Cinematography Documentary Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
Daang Dokyu’s opening activities will also tackle other important issues. Alunsina documents the struggle of children and families in an urban settlement severely affected by the government’s war against drugs—an ideology that has led to thousands of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug users, leaving hundreds of children without parents.
A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution examines the left-wing revolution of the Philippines and chronicles the three points of a political triangle—the legal left, the illegal (armed) revolution, and the enemy which threatens them both: the armed reactionary right. It has never been shown in the Philippines and will be making its debut here after 32 years. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival (Film Forum) in 1989 where it won the People’s Choice Award. It also won the top Prix du Public award at the 50th anniversary of the National Film Board of Canada; Grand Prize at the Houston Film Festival; and Best Cinematography from the Society of Canadian Cinematographers.
Mendiola Massacre, filmed in 1987, is a newsreel of the massacre in Mendiola Bridge on January 22, 1987. The protest action for genuine agrarian reform by peasant organizations led by Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas resulted in the deaths of 13 farmers and injuries of hundreds of civilians.
More information is available at www.daangdokyu.ph.