October marks Filipino American History Month. In order to raise awareness for Filipino cinema as an important art form and a powerful tool for representation, San Diego Filipino Cinema is holding its third annual San Diego Filipino Film Festival (SDFFF).
SDFFF found fast success. Its opening and closing night films were sold out more than a week ago. That's amazing for a young festival that opened its doors just as people were emerging from a pandemic.
Filmmakers Benito Bautista and Emma Francisco felt like they had no platform to show their own work. So when they arrived in San Diego in 2015 they decided to make a difference to both the Filipino and filmmaking communities by founding San Diego Filipino Cinema in 2018.
The goal was to discover and exhibit compelling movies from Filipino filmmakers around the globe and bring them to the Filipino community. Then in 2021, they launched SDFFF as their centerpiece event.
The San Diego and the extensive Filipino community here have embraced the festival, which pleases Bautista, the co-founder and executive director of San Diego Filipino Cinema.
"It makes us really proud. It also inspires us and it drives us to do our work — our important work — and amplifying our representation in arts and culture and cinema," Bautista said.
The opening night film "Nurse Unseen" is a documentary about Filipino nurses and it epitomizes what the festival wants to do. SDFFF wants to secure a place at the table so Filipino stories and voices can be heard.
"So that we can share our experiences, our struggles, our history, our dreams, our future, and so that we can learn from each other," Bautisa explained. "We've been invisible in different industries — including the film industry — and so what we're trying to do is, we're trying to amplify that representation. And that when we do that, it also amplifies and inspires even our own community in terms of heritage and pride."
Another documentary that speaks to this point is "Searching for Kapwa." Kapwa is defined in the film as 'a sense of connection to other people, particularly other people of Filipino descent.' So it's a sense that we are all connected, we are all family. And it feels like a really spiritual sense of connection that we are cut from the same cloth."
But filmmaker Larry Daguino Lariosa ponders, "Why had I always felt the exact opposite, feeling so disconnected from my culture? How did this happen?"
The film represents his search for an answer.
While SDFFF showcases new films with an eye for fresh talent, it also pays tribute to veterans of Filipino cinema such as the late actress Gloria Sevilla.
"Gloria Sevilla had been in the Philippine film industry for 68 years. Can you imagine that? 68 years!" Bautista said "She started working at the age of 14 as an actor in film, and then it just blossomed into so many different genre of films. She also became the queen of the Visayan films (The Visayas are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines). And so, we're actually giving her a lifetime achievement award for the inspiration, the pleasure of working and seeing her work and experiencing her work and experiencing her humanity."
The festival will screen "Pagbalik (The Return)" on Saturday with filmmaker and Sevilla's daughter Maria S. Ranillo and actor Matt Ranillo in attendance. The film is about a woman returning home to the Philippines after having been abroad working and how that impacts the family dynamics.
The festival will offer a mix of in-person and online screenings as well as a mix of shorts, features, and documentaries. I also appreciate the mix of genres. Closing night will offer the popular Dante Basco and KC Concepcion in the romantic comedy "Asian Persuasion" with filmmaker Jhett Tolentino and writer Michael Ang on hand for a Q&A after the screening.
But on Thursday, you can find "Nanahimik Ang Gabi (A Silent Night)," which takes elements of horror and psychological thriller and blends it with social commentary.
"With messaging about political corruption in local government and also in the police in the Philippines," Bautista added. "I think it's a mirror. It's also a mirror of where we're at in our society and any government in the world."
SDFFF run through Sunday at THE LOT Liberty Station and AMC Plaza Bonita.
You can check out my story about the festival's inaugural year.
