We present the lineup for the 7th Active Vista International Human Rights Film Festival & The 2nd Never Forget Film Festival which will take place from September 20th -28th at the UP Film Center & the Cinema Centenario in Quezon City, Metro Manila (Philippines).

FULL SCHEDULE:
September 20th (Friday)
07:00 pm at Cine Adarna (UP Film Institute) | On the President’s Orders by James Jones and Olivier Sarbil (INVITATION ONLY!)

September 21st (Saturday)
10:00 am at Cinema Centenario | Ang Panahon ng Halimaw by Lav Diaz (234 minutes)
02:50 pm at Cinema Centenario| Respeto by Treb Monteras II (96 minutes)
04:50 pm at Cinema Centenario | Liway by Kip Oebanda (100 minutes)
07:20 pm at Cinema Centenario| ML by Benedict Mique (90 minutes)

September 22nd (Sunday)
12:00 pm at Cinema Centenario | Motherland by Ramona S. Diaz (94 minutes)
01:45 pm at Cinema Centenario | Moral by Marilou Diaz-Abaya (150 minutes)
04:20 pm at Cinema Centenario | Billie & Emma by Sam Lee (107 minutes)

September 23rd (Monday)
04:20 pm at Cinema Centenario| ML by Benedict Mique (90 minutes)
05:20 pm at Cine Adarna (UP Film Institute) | Ang Hupa by Lav Diaz (279 minutes)
07:00 pm at Videotheque (UP Film Institute) | Give Up Tomorrow by Michael Collins (95 min.)
08:30 pm at Cinema Centenario | Respeto by Treb Monteras II (96 minutes)

September 24th (Tuesday)
05:30 pm at Cine Adarna (UP Film Institute) | The Cleaners by Hang Block and Mortz Riesewieck (88 minutes)
05:40 pm at Cinema Centenario | Balangiga: Howling Wilderness by Khavn De La Cruz (120 minutes)
07:00 pm at Videotheque (UP Film Institute) | Call Her Ganda by PJ Raval (94 minutes)
07:30 pm at Cine Adarna (UP Film Institute) | Last Exit to Kai Tak by Matthew Torne (130 minutes)

September 25th (Wednesday)
04:40 pm at Cinema Centenario | Liway by Kip Oebanda (100 minutes)
06:45 pm at Cinema Centenario | Guerilla is a Poet by Kiri Dalena & Sari Dalena (135 minutes)

September 26th (Thursday)
05:40 pm at Cinema Centenario | Salvage by Sherad Anthony Sanchez (92 minutes)
08:00 pm at Cinema Centenario | The Mortician of Manila by Leah Borromeo (25 minutes) + Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno (70 minutes)

September 27th (Friday)
03:20 pm at Cinema Centenario | Call Her Ganda by PJ Raval (94 minutes)
07:20 pm at Cinema Centenario | Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros by Auraeus Solito (100 minutes)

September 28th (Saturday)
01:00 pm at Cinema Centenario | Salvage by Sherad Anthony Sanchez (92 minutes)
03:30 pm at Cinema Centenario | Guerilla is a Poet by Kiri Dalena & Sari Dalena (135 minutes)

September 29th (Sunday)
04:40 pm at Cinema Centenario | Endo by Jade Castro (96 mintues)
06:40 pm at Cinema Centenario | Sa Palad Ng Dantaong Kulang by Jewel Maranan (125 minutes)

LINE UP:

7th Active Vista – International Human Rights Film Festival

On the President’s Orders by James Jones and Olivier Sarbil

The searing story of President Duterte’s bloody campaign against drug dealers and addicts in the Philippines, told with unprecedented and intimate access to both sides of the war – the Manila police, and an ordinary family from the slum. Shot in the style of a thriller, this observational film combines the look and feel of a narrative feature film with a real life revelatory journalistic investigation into a campaign of killings. The film uncovers a murky world where crime, drugs and politics meet in a deathly embrace – and reveal that although the police have been publicly ordered to stop extra-judicial killings, the deaths continue.

Schedule:
September 20th (Friday)– Cine Adarna – 7:00 pm (INVITATION ONLY)

Trailer:

Ang Hupa by Lav Diaz – Philippines | 2019 – 282 minutes | Fiction

It is the year 2034 AD and Southeast Asia has been in the dark for the last three years, literally, because the sun hasn’t shone as a result of massive volcanic eruptions at the Celebes Sea in 2031. Madmen control countries, communities, enclaves and bubble cities. Cataclysmic epidemics razed over the continent. Millions have died and millions have left.

Schedule:
September 23th (Monday) – Cine Adarna – 5:30 pm

Trailer:

Give up Tomorrow by Michael Collins – Philippines | 2011 – 95 minutes | Documentary

As a tropical storm beats down on the Philippine island of Cebu, two sisters leave work and never make it home. The documentary exposes a Kafkaesque extravaganza populated by flamboyantly corrupt public officials, cops on the take, and a frenzied legal and media circus. It is also an intimate family drama focused on the near mythic struggle of two angry and sorrowful mothers who have dedicated more than a decade to executing or saving one young man, Paco Larrañaga.

Schedule:
September 23th (Monday) – Videotheque – 7:00 pm

Trailer:

The Cleaners by Hang Block and Mortz Riesewieck
Philippines | 2018 – 88 minutes | Documentary

Enter a hidden third world shadow industry of digital cleaning, where the Internet rids itself of what it doesn‘t like. Here we meet five “digital scavengers” among thousands of people outsourced from Silicon Valley whose job is to delete “inappropriate” content of the net. In a parallel struggle, we meet people around the globe whose lives are dramatically affected by online censorship. A typical “cleaner” must observe and rate thousands of often deeply disturbing images and videos every day, leading to lasting psychological impacts. Yet underneath their work lie profound questions around what makes an image art or propaganda and what defines journalism. Where exactly is the point of balance for social media to be neither an unlegislated space nor a forum rife with censorship?

Schedule:
September 24th (Tuesday) – Cine Adarna – 5:30 pm

Trailer:

Last Exit to Kai Tak by Matthew Torne
Hong Kong, UK, USA | 2018 – 130 minutes | Documentary

In autumn 2014 large protests were held in Hong Kong after China instituted antidemocratic election reform. A civic movement known as the “Umbrella Revolution” ultimately failed. This film does not focus on political events but rather on what followed. Where did the lives of the leading activists lead them and how? In a way, the dramatic events affected all of them. However, each one of them must now come to terms with the consequences and mainly with life in a country with an uncertain future. This is an intimate portrait of five former revolutionaries, including a popular singer, a student, a businessman, and a boxer.

Schedule:
September 24th (Tuesday) – Cine Adarna – 7:30 pm

Trailer:

Call Her Ganda by PJ Raval – Philippines | 2018 – 94 minutes | Documentary

When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina transwoman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case–an activist attorney (Virgie Suarez), a transgender journalist (Meredith Talusan) and Jennifer’s mother (Julita “Nanay” Laude)–galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of U.S. imperialism.

Schedule:
September 24th (Tuesday) – Videotheque – 7:00 pm
September 27th (Friday) – CINEMA CENTENARIO – 3:20 pm

Trailer:

2nd Never Forget Film Festival

Ang Panahon ng Halimaw by Lav Diaz – Philippinies | 2018 – 234 minutes

An anti-musical musical, a rock opera, that delves into mythology. Screening of Lav Diaz Award winning film in the exceptional presence of lead actress Shaina Magdayo.

Schedule:
September 21st (Saturday) Cinema Centenario – 10:00 am

Trailer:

Liway by Kip Oebanda – Philippines | 2018 – 100 minutes

The true story of a young mother who uses story-telling to protect her child from the reality of growing up in prison and the difficult life she endured.

Schedule:
September 21st (Saturday) Cinema Centenario – 4:50 pm
September 25th (Wednesday) Cinema Centenario – 4:40 pm

Trailer:

ML by Benedict Mique Jr. – Philippinies | 2018 – 90 minutes

A college student, his girlfriend and bestfriend get more than what they bargained for when they decide to learn about the dark days of Martial Law straight from an old retired soldier who may be one of its worst abusers.

Schedule:
September 21st (Saturday) – Cinema Centenario – 7:20 pm
September 23rd (Monday) – Cinema Centenario – 4:20 pm

Trailer:
https://vimeo.com/295495202

Moral by Marilou Diaz-Abaya – Philippines | 1982 – 250 minutes

Joey, Kathy, Sylvia and Maritess are not only classmates – they are the best of friends. Joey is a drug user who sleeps around. Kathy is a mediocre singer who will stop at nothing to fulfill her dreams of going big-time. Sylvia is a liberated woman who finds security in the love of her ex-husband who is now living in with another man. Maritess plays the role of a conventional housewife who is reduced to a baby-making machine. In the span of three years – from 1979 to 1982 – the film traces the lives of these four women through their seemingly desperate but also interwoven experiences and in their attempts to resolve their individual problems are mirrored the different faces of the woman in our society today.

Schedule:
September 22nd (Sunday) – Cinema Centenario – 1:45 pm

Respeto by Treb Monteras II – Philippines | 2017 – 96 minutes

Hendrix dreams of hip-hop greatness, but he is spiraling down a rabbit-hole of crime and poverty until he meets Doc, an old poet still haunted by his martial law past. Can they turn each other’s lives around before they are swallowed by their circumstance? The film is a celebration of the underground Pinoy hip-hop world and how we find the words to find ourselves. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
September 21st (Saturday) – Cinema Centenario – 2:50 pm
September 23rd (Monday) – Cinema Centenario – 8:20 pm

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD8uRGpoM1w

Balangiga Howling Wilderness by Khavn Dela Cruz – Philippines | 2017 – 120 minutes

1901, Balangiga. Eight-year-old Kulas flees town with his grandfather and their carabao to escape General Smith’s Kill and Burn order. He finds a toddler amid a sea of corpses and together, the two boys struggle to survive the American occupation.

Schedule:
September 24th (Tuesday) – Cinema Centenario – 5:40 pm

Trailer:

Billie & Emma by Samantha Lee – Philippines | 2018 – 104 minutes

Set in the mid-90’s, the film tells the story of Billie, a troublemaker from the big city, who finds herself exiled to San Isidro to live with her spinster aunt who is also the town’s religion teacher. Determined to change her ways and get through the last year of high school without incident, Billie hides herself from the world until she meets Emma, the ambitious, star student who coaxes Billie out of her shell. They soon fall in love but things get complicated when Emma finds out that she’s pregnant. Together, they explore the fleeting nature of love and life on this journey of growth, laughter and music.

Schedule:
September 22nd (Sunday) – Cinema Centenario – 4:20 pm

Trailer:

Motherland by Ramona Diaz – Philippines | 2017 – 94 minutes

Motherland takes us into the heart of the planet’s busiest maternity hospital in one of the world’s poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. The film’s viewer, like an unseen outsider dropped unobtrusively into the hospital’s stream of activity, passes through hallways, enters rooms and listens in on conversations. At first, the surrounding people are strangers. But as the film continues, it’s absorbingly intimate, rendering the women at the heart of the story increasingly familiar. Three women—Lea, Aira and Lerma—emerge to share their stories with other mothers, their families, doctors and social workers. While each of them faces daunting odds at home, their optimism, honesty and humor suggest a strength that they will certainly have to summon in the years ahead.

Schedule:
September 22nd (Sunday) – Cinema Centenario – 12:00 pm

Trailer:

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros by Auraeus Solito – Philippines | 2005 – 100 minutes

Maxi, a boy on the cusp of his teens, is already comfortable with his homosexual feelings. He dresses in girls’ clothing and wears makeup, with nothing but acceptance from his family. When Maxi is assaulted one evening, Victor, a police officer, comes to his aid. Maxi soon develops a crush on Victor, who shows a platonic affection for the young lad. The unorthodox friendship is strained when Victor’s job leads him to Maxi’s brothers and father.

Schedule:
September 27th (Friday) – Cinema Centenario – 07:20 pm

Trailer:

Endo by Jade Castro – Philippines | 2007 – 96 minutes

Leo’s life is a series of terminable contracts. Unable to finish school and forced to be the family breadwinner, he takes on five month service-oriented jobs, one after another. Will his love affair with the spirited dreamer Tanya finally give him a taste of security and permanence?

Schedule:
September 29th (Sunday) – Cinema Centenario – 4:40 pm

Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang by Jewel Maranan – Philippines | 2017 – 125 minutes

Four families live in the seams of Manila’s busiest international port. In the hours of their ordinary days, they hear and see the wealth of different nations, packed as cargo, passing them by, leaving and entering Manila’s shores. But soon, the port expands and panic starts. Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang is a filmic symphony depicting the increasing everyday violence in the aspiration for a city fit for globalization.

Schedule:
September 29th (Sunday) – Cinema Centenario – 6:40 pm

Trailer:

The Guerilla is a Poet by Sari Dalena and Kiri Dalena – Philippines | 2013 – 135 minutes

Based on the life of Jose Maria Sison, a Filipino revolutionary who is now in exile in Europe. This film explores a tumultuous decade in Philippine history when Sison, a young intellectual and teacher founded the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and sought to overthrow the regime of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The Royal Norwegian Government at present stands as the third party in facilitating the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines with its allied organizations including the CPP.

Screening:
September 25th (Wednesday) | Cinema Centenario | 6:45 pm
September 28th (Saturday) | Cinema Centenario | 3:20 pm

Trailer:

Salvage by Sherad Anthony Sanchez – Philippines | 2015 – 92 minutes

A news team investigating rumors of aswang killings in a remote barrio are attacked by a group of soldiers, forcing them to run for their lives in the deeps of the forest, where more mystery and danger lay in wait.

Screening:
September 26th (Thursday) | Cinema Centenario | 5:40 pm
September 28th (Saturday) | Cinema Centenario | 1:00 pm

Trailer:

Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno – Philippines | 2009 – 70 minutes

Richard and Raymond are two teenage brothers. Richard is the leader of his gang, “Bagong Buwan,” while Raymond is being inducted into the rival gang, “Batang Dilim.” Complications arise when Raymond is given the task of killing his older brother. Meanwhile, the City Death Squad lurks the streets. This real-life vigilante group is allegedly backed by the city mayor and responsible for many unsolved murders of teen gangsters. Today, they are hunting down Richard. Will they take the younger brother, too?

Screenings (with The Mortician of Manila by Leah Borromeo (25 minutes))

Trailer:

Esprit De Corps by Auraeus Solito – Philippines | 2014 – 94 minutes

An adaptation of Auraeus Solito’s play entitled Esprit de Corps in the 1980’s about the game of seduction and ranks in the ROTC, It is a queer story of two cadets and their pursuit to outwit a corrupt Major Marcus for his position.

Screening:
September 27th (Friday) | Cinema Centenario | 5:10 pm

Trailer: