NEWS: Diwa Film Festival Showcases Diverse Filipino Voices Through Film1 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Opening June 1st, the Diwa Film Festival, held at the Seattle Center, will feature independent short films from the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora that celebrate the Filipino “diwa”, or spirit in Tagalog. The diverse list of featured short films will explore and highlight the “diasporic, oceanic point of view that ‘provincializes’ the two poles of the Philippines and ‘abroad’,” says Adrian Alarilla, organizer of the festival.
Since its inception, the Diwa Film Festival has highlighted Filipino voices from the Philippines and the U.S., as well as Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
The festival intentionally showcases mainly short films, “in order to help encourage amateur and student filmmakers,” says Alarilla. A few films worth viewing include Si Astri maka si Tambulah (Astri and Tambulah) by Xeph Suarez and Lupah Sug (The Land of the Brave) by Rhadem Camlian Morados. Both films explore queer and Moro (a Muslim ethnic group hailing from the southern Philippine island of Mindanao) identity. Between Worlds: Filipino/Australian by Matthew Victor Pastor investigates a growing community of diasporic Filipino filmmakers in Australia who explore their identity through their craft, and Woodside by Vic Roxas examines the psyche of a Filipino immigrant in New York, whose guilt haunts him due to surviving a typhoon which unfortunately, took the lives of his parents.
With about 45 short films being screened, there is no lack of diverse topics being highlighted.
Photo Credit: International Examiner
