Watch three free movies at the 2015 CineJuana Film Festival

The Philippine Commission on Women, in partnership with the Government Service Insurance System, National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Film Development Council of the Philippines is using the power of cinema in its campaign to end Violence Against Women (VAW) with the 2015 CineJuana Film Festival. 

 

Three films that focus on the issue of VAW will be screened in the festival from December 8 to 10 at the Tanghalang Leandro V. Locsin (NCCA Auditorium), Intramuros, Manila. Admission is free. 

 

The three films included in the lineup are:

 

Barber’s Tales (Mga Kwentong Barbero)

Screening Schedule: December 8 and 9, 9 a.m.

 

 

Barber's Tales is set in the rural town in the Philippines during the end of Marcos dictatorship, and tells the story of newly widowed Marilou who inherits the town's only barbershop from her husband—a business that has been passed down by generations of men in her husband's family. With no other means of support, she musters the courage to run the barbershop. But as expected, she fails to attract any customers. But a touching act of kindness she extended to Rosa, a prostitute woman who works in the town brothel, leads to an unexpected opportunity. Rosa, who now considers Marilou a friend, urges her prostitute women friends to pressure their male clientele into patronizing Marilou's barbershop. The men have no choice but to grudgingly oblige out of fear that Rosa will expose their infidelity to their wives.

 

Walang Rape sa Bontok

Screening Schedule: December 8 and 9, 1 p.m.; December 10, 10 a.m.

 

 

Two Filipinas, both victims of sexual abuse in varying degrees, yearn and search for a utopia where women can live without being sexually violated. By chance, they encounter a study by renowned anthropologist June Prill-Brett, Ph.D., which states that the Bontok of the Philippine Cordilleras has lived for eras without a term, nor concept, nor incidence, of rape. At last, a utopia, where the most heinous of gender crimes is unheard of. Or, is it? In this world where the universality of women oppression is widely believed, how did a rape-less society ever become possible?

 

Lauriana

Screening Schedule: December 8 and 9, 3:30 p.m.

 

 

Set in 1955, the residents of a small idyllic village in Quezon are jolted to discover the dark, disturbing secret of a soldier and his common-law wife. Orphan Carding befriends Army Captain Samuel Corazon who’s stationed in his town to root out the remaining Huk guerrillas. At the dance hall, Corazon woos dancer Lauriana, and they soon move in together. The two become sort of surrogate parents for the orphan Carding, with Corazon teaching him the ways of men. But the soldier has a dark side, and Carding becomes witness to the violence occurring in their home, and a heinous act committed by the soldier on his common-law-wife. 

 

The 2015 CineJuana Film Festival is part of the Philippine Commission on Women's 18-Day Campaign to End VAW, which began with "Orange Your Icon" and culminates with the "Leaders' Gender Sensitization on GAD in Private Higher Education Institutions" training sessions. — AT, GMA News