Politically-charged Philippine documentaries qualified for Oscars consideration
The documentary films, Aswang, and A Thousand Cuts, are included in the list of films for consideration for the 93rd Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars.
Both films fall under the documentary feature category.
Directed by Alyx Ayn Arumpac, Aswang takes a look at the Philippine government's all-out war against drugs from the ground.
The documentary begins with a reference to 'aswang' or evil elements popular in Filipino folklore before connecting the supernatural horror to the grisly incidents happening on the streets.
“I was already doing some research on the 'aswang' folklore and how this was used for fear-mongering and social control when I saw the first images of the drug war - people brutally killed and proudly being displayed in the streets for all to see,” Alyx said in an interview with SINdie.
“It was a loose association but I kept the idea at the back of my head. It was a challenge to title it Aswang if I could not formally incorporate it in the film.
“Luckily I worked with talented collaborators who supported this vision and tried their best to make it happen.”
She added, “The killings happened so frequently, with such regularity that there was a tendency to be numbed by it all after a while.
“I think the camera also sometimes acts as a filter, because all your senses are focused on what goes inside that frame. It is afterwards - when you reflect about it all, when you review the things you had filmed and are forced to confront it directly - that it all sets in.”
The movie debuted in Amsterdam in the Netherlands during the 2019 International Documentary Film Festival.
It also bagged the White Goose Award at the 12th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival in September last year.
Aswang made history as the first documentary to win Best Picture at the 2020 FAMAS.
Meanwhile, A Thousand Cuts highlight the clash between the media and the government under the Duterte administration and the disinformation that divides the nation.
Caught in the crosshairs is multi-awarded journalist Maria Ressa, CEO and co-founder of the news website, Rappler.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020, and was screened internationally mostly in the United States.
“There is (a lot of) specificity to the story and also the universal aspects of the story that I thought would resonate beyond the Philippines. As you know, I'm always telling stories that go beyond the Philippines because my audience is here,” Director Ramona Diaz, who is based in the US, told the Golden Globe Awards.
“I produce my films here and they're always passion projects. I get obsessed especially with people I film because I say that I make documentary films in order to experience all these things.
“I did Journey because I wanted to see what it's like to be a rock star. I guess I'm doing A Thousand Cuts to see what it feels like to be this beleaguered journalist who's the object of the administration's hatred.”