By Sofia Baldonado
Over 30 Filipino filmmakers collaborated with the ninth edition of Active Vista International Human Rights Festival (AVIHRF) from September 21 to October 10, to fulfill the aim of the event to build creative resistance against historical revisionism in the Philippines.
The 20-day online festival, with the theme, “Kwento Natin ‘To: Reclaiming our Stories as a Nation” not only featured film screenings, but also highlighted a series of exhibits, talks, workshops and performances.
Several notable filmmakers including Lav Diaz, Raymond Red, Alyx Arumpac, and Mae Paner partnered with AVIHRF to participate in talks or released films that put a spotlight on topics about the aftermath of Martial Law, the “War on Drugs” under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, press freedom and other various events related to human rights abuse.
Indie filmmaker Cha Roque of award-winning “Langit Lupa” from “Trilogy”— one of the featured short films in AVIHRF — shared her thoughts on why more Filipino directors should partner with organizations like Active Vista.
“Malaking bagay ‘yung mga festivals like Active Vista’s because it presents films na hindi naman natin kadalasan napapanood… Filipino directors should always recognize that we have a voice and our art have power, hindi lang sa pagbibigay nito ng pagkakataon na magkwento [ng mga] nangyayari sa paligid, but it also has the power to change the perspectives of people.” Roque stated.
In the statement released by Active Vista to Green FM, its team recognized the AVIHRF’s success from having filmmakers teamed up to empower people by retelling the true stories of the oppressed.
“We see how candidates, especially particular presidential aspirants, exhaust all means to distort history, veil their blunders, and push for their propagandas. We believe that it’s high time to be firm in expressing that the real stories of our nation do not come from those in power, but the stories of ordinary people.”
Furthermore, AVIHRF volunteer Kiara Villa expressed her appreciation for the involvement of filmmakers in this year’s edition by mentioning how they succeeded in influencing the perception of viewers.
“The viewers would be more enlightened with how these significant [filmmakers] show how they want ‘change’ to happen in the next [few] years… the viewers would learn a lot about how ‘change’ would really be essential to our society,” Villa explained.
AVIHRF will close today, October 10 with a forum titled, “Alamat ng Kwento: The Role of Cinema and Media in Myth Making”. Few of the confirmed speakers will include local celebrities like Angel Locsin, John Lloyd Cruz, Jerom Canlas and Mikoy Morales.
To know more about the AVIHRF and its schedule for today’s final events, check out the Active Vista official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ActiveVista or visit https://www.activevista.ph/
