‘I-Witness’ hosts celebrate 16 years of eye-opening documentaries in Dubai Docufest

"Docufest sa Dubai" was the first time that Sandra Aguinaldo, Kara David, Howie Severino, and Jay Taruc traveled abroad together.

Blowing candles and delivering thank-you speeches aren’t enough for “I-Witness” to celebrate their 16th anniversary. This is a phenomenal feat for the longest-running documentary show in the Philippines, after all.

So the four hosts — Kara David, Jay Taruc, Sandra Aguinaldo and Howie Severino —packed their bags and flew all the way to Dubai, which is one of the countries with the most number of overseas Filipino workers.

Further, GMA Pinoy TV is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Its first launch took place in Dubai as well a decade ago. Thus, choosing to go to Dubai seemed to be the perfect choice not just for the show but also for its home network, GMA.

As “I-Witness” aims to make an impact not just on the lives of the Filipinos in the country but also on those living overseas, it was decided that a documentary festival be held in Dubai as part of the show’s anniversary. The festival also happens to be the show’s first international event and the trip the first time all four hosts went abroad together.

Kara, Jay, Sandra and Howie went to the United International Private School on Oct. 7 and to the Philippine School of Dubai on Oct. 8 to meet young kids and discuss about documentary.

Sandra tackled the basics of documentary production that aspiring journalists need to know while Kara shared her thoughts on compassion in reporting. Meanwhile, Howie focused his talk on social media and the power that lies in the hands of the youth while Jay elaborated on the immersion style of documentary-making.

Although the hosts delivered their talks in separate classroom-type halls, all their topics aimed to give the Filipinos -- students, parents, and working professionals alike -- in the Middle East an overview of the social issues hounding the Philippines and how documentaries help in raising the Filipinos’ social consciousness.

For Jay, the most memorable part of the event was having interacted with the students of the two schools. “I got a real sense of how the students living there think and how they cope thousands of kilometers of being away from home,” shares Jay. “They were very curious about the people and places that were the subjects of our docus.”

Aside from the discussions, GMA News & Public Affairs also donated documentaries on DVD for the two schools’ video libraries. The DVDs consist of all titles produced by the network that can serve as educational tools for the Filipino students in the Middle East.

Delighted Filipinos

Some of the Filipinos who got the chance to meet the hosts during the “Docufest sa Dubai” took to social media to post their selfies with the hosts and to express their happiness in finally meeting the respected documentarists.

 

Work and play

It wasn’t all work for Kara, Jay, Sandra and Howie, of course. They also got to go out, explore the country’s tourist attractions, and bond with the rest of the “I-Witness” production team.

Being a self-confessed outdoors person, Kara says she enjoyed the desert so much. “It was my first time to see and touch desert sand and see infinite mountains of red sand,” she admits. “Pinapaalala sa’yo na ang liit-liit mo lang sa malawak na likha ng Panginoon.”

The I-Witness hosts and production team, went out to the desert for the complete Dubai experience.

Kara David, a self-confessed outdoors lover, considers her visit to the desert as the most memorable part of her Dubai trip.

Sandra, meanwhile, says that aside from all the events that comprised the Docufest, she also found her bonding moments with her fellow hosts memorable, given that it was their first time to travel abroad together. She recalled the time when the four of them went out to cycle; although she admits that she isn’t really a biking enthusiast, unlike the other three.

“Memorable ‘yun dahil it was also a time to bond with the other hosts kasi ‘yung format kasi namin, ‘di ba, may kaniya-kaniyang team kami. Hindi naman kami talaga nagkakasama talaga.”

Jay also enjoyed the bonding moments that he had with his fellow hosts. He recalls that they had a 15-hour layover in Istanbul, Turkey on their way to Dubai but they didn’t worry about it. “The trip entails long hours of downtime and we were able to talk about non-work related stuff. Update sa buhay-buhay.”

He got to have more bonding time with Kara and Sandra during their layover in Turkey as they went on a day trip to the country’s most visited tourist spots. “So much fun exploring, learning, and discovering a foreign culture with them.

But when they got to Dubai, it was Howie whom Jay got to bond with the most. “I remember we even went for a skateboarding session with some young Filipino kids living there and had a blast,” he recalls.

Howie and Jay showed their being kids-at-heart as they played skateboards with the young Filipino kids in Dubai.

Overall, it was a memorable experience for the hosts as they enjoyed the company of one another. According to Jay, “It was so fun. Ngayon pa lang, we’re all looking forward to the next trip.”---BMS, GMA Public Affairs

Watch I-Witness’ 16th Anniversary Special on November 14, 2015, 10:30PM after Celebrity Bluff. For more information about I-Witness, follow them on Facebook and Twitter. For more information about your favorite GMA Public Affairs shows, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.