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Memories of a Forgotten War |
Most people remember Vietnam, but many have no recollection of the war in the Philippines. Between 1899 and 1913, 1.5 million Filipinos died, yet few remember any details of war or why it was fought. History books on both sides of the Pacific typically misremember or forget historical details left and right on the topic of the Philippine-American War. And historians have little access to the mainstream public, isolated as they are in the scholarly halls of expert journals and academic conferences and a few precious interventions in the university classroom.
This film sets out to do something about this situation of historical amnesia. Memories of a Forgotten War: A Documentary on the Philippine-American War of 1899 is an international collaboration by Filipino filmmaker Sari Lluch Dalena and Filipino-American video artist Camilla Benolirao Griggers. On the premise that true democracy requires accurate historical memory, the film sets the record straight about some crucial events in the history of Philippine-American foreign relations. The film shows what history books commonly call the 'annexation' of the Philippines to be a violent and bloody war in which ilustrados, nationalist troops, and peasants alike resisted American occupation after their short-lived liberation from 300 years of Spanish colonialism. Shot on location in Vigan and Jolo.
Direction: Sari Lluch Dalena and Camilla Benolirao Griggers
Cinematography: Boy Yniguez, Regiben Romana, and Robert Quebral
Musical Score: Grace Nono
Producers: National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Women in Film Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, Mon Valley Media, the Mowelfund Film Institute, and Pittsburgh Filmmakers.
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/nz32101.html
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