‘Kapatiran’ and more: Not just happy endings at human rights film festival

Dakila partners with the Commission on Human Rights and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the fourth edition of Active Vista, an International Human Rights Festival.

This year's theme, Truth x Imagination, keeps a sharp focus on the use of various visual arts to make an impact on how the public sees the world. On February 24, a day ahead of the 30th anniversary of the People Power Revolution, the festival opened with director Khavn's satirical musical "EDSA XXX."

"EDSA XXX" is a firmly strange, vaguely crass movie starring Epy Quizon, Sheree, Althea Vega...and a handful of mermaids. Oh, and a man in black face as Kulog Negro. It feels more like an experiment than a commercial feature and is thus restricted as a one-time, by invitation screening.

Dakila instead brings to the public eight other movies, safe for consumption and easier to digest. The festival opens in five cities, with "Barber's Tale" and "Miss Bulalacao" leading the lineup.

Chuck Gutierrez's "Iisa" travels to Davao fresh from its QCinema run, while C1 Original movie "Miss Bulalacao" by Ara Chawdhury is set to be screened in Dumaguete and Cebu.

The films might not hold the same charm as #WalangForever, but the organizers of Active Vista are staying their ground and offering an option for an audience that wants more than a happy ending.

Festival director Leni Velasco shares, "Truth, no matter how ugly, no matter how difficult, needs to be seen. Because it is only in acknowledging truth that we are liberated and are empowered to transform it."

"The power of art is its ability to change perception, to change how people view the world. Active Vista inspires to do so through cinema, one viewer, at a time," she concludes. — BM, GMA News