This video documentary is a personal journey into the world of working children in Philippine provinces. Dio and Tikboy slaughter pigs and cows in Cebu on graveyard shift. What they get in return is the fat scraped off from the animals' hides. Tenement farmers' kids Delena and Cito plant and weed in the sugar haciendas in Ormoc to repay their families' debt. The catch is, there is no prospect of ever finishing payment. Bobbi, Liting and Moklo, all small for their age, unload sack after sack of cement in 12 straight hours. Unfolding before the eyes of a photographer, the video invites search for answers to the question of child labor. Selected for exhibition at the last Hong Kong International Film Festival, it has the heft and feel of a truly powerful opus that viewers may find it hard to see another film that could approximate its impact. It is the rightful winner for best documentary at the 15th Annual Film Academy of the Philippines and the Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video '96. It was also adjudged best work on children at the CCP competition.
Director: Ditsi Carolino, Sadhana Buxani
Script: Ditsi Carolino
Photography: Ditsi Carolino, Sadhana Buxani
Editing: Ditsi Carolino, Bobby Regalado
Music: Ronnie Quesada
Sound: Sadhana Buxani
Producer: Ditsi Carolino, Ateneo Center for Social Policy,
Archdiocese of Manila Labor Centre
This is a documentary about child labor in the Philippine provinces. The directors recorded small children working under excruciating conditions in slaughterhouses, sugarcane fields, and ship docks in order to add to their family income. Images of the children's carefree joy after release from work capture the essence of childhood and emphasize their plight.
Director's Statement
It's funny how one film can take you in directions you never imagined. When we began this project, all we wanted was to do an eye-opener on child labor. One that would remove the blinders from viewers so used to seeing child labor as part of the landscape of a developing country.
We started off trying to produce something to convince others. In the end, we came off the biggest converts.
You can't film these children's lives without looking deep into your own and the line of responsibility that links us all. In the end, we found ourselves becoming more than just documentarists; we had turned advocates.We became part of a network of NGOs working against child labor.
The kids we interviewed were articulate, child-like yet mature for their age. The hard life they led built extraordinary characters which translated so well in the documentary form. We marveled at how openly they shared their lives and thoughts with us.
Of course it helped that we were a small crew with very simple equipment. We operated as a two-woman team doing research, camera, sound, script, and PA work altogether. No heavy equipment, no lights, no big guys to intimidate them... This helped the children to open up.
And by simply being themselves, the children generate a tremendous amount of empathy from viewers who are invariably moved by their strength and stoicism, resilience and humor.
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