DM 201: How I wish we can watch Riles :)

Filmmaker Ditsi Carolino achieves an amazing intimacy in her cinema verite portrait of a young Filipino couple, Eddie and Pen Renomeron, their three adopted children and two kids of their own. The family lives in a neighborhood teaming with makeshift houses crowded dangerously close to the railway tracks in the Philippine capital Manila. Between the rails, children play, handmade carts are transported, men gamble and women socialize. When a train approaches, everyone steps aside for a moment and, once the cars have rumbled past, life resumes its normal course. Eddie and Pen have serious worries, because the landlord has announced that their "house" is to be demolished. They owe a great deal in back rent. Eddie earns almost nothing selling duck eggs and the pittance that Pen receives as a maid does not help enough. They each cope with their anxieties in different ways: Eddie converts his hard-earned cash into booze whenever he gets a chance and when Pen finds her husband drunk, she flies into a rage. Filmmaker Carolino exhibits remarkable skill in capturing the seminal moments of emotion and humor in one family's life journey.

*film summary from http://www.mediarights.org/film/life_on_the_tracks_riles
* photo from http://tornandfrayed.typepad.com/tornandfrayed/2005/11/howie_severino_.html

DM 201 is mostly composeed of discussions on poverty. Mostly the technical side of it (with what I want to call "the development set language" (more on this later) - poverty threshold, minimum daily wage, etc. etc. Most of the time, I find myself wantong to explore the heart that is involved in development work. My mind starts to fly to images of inequality, hunger and lack of education.

I have seen Ditsi's "Riles" twice. Once during the 7th Ayala Young Leaders Congress (February 2005 - see photo! ) and I think early June 2005 at the Filipinas Heritage Library when our HR Team at Ayala Foundation organized a screening for us (by the way, well done, Ave). On that 2nd screening, Ditsi brought with her the film's main characters, Eddie and Pen Renomeron, and her partner in making the film - Nana Buxani.

*Hanna with Ditsi Carolino during the 7th AYLC in Tagaytay City last February 2005
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We had a great interaction with the Riles Team. Learned about the hows and the whys of the film - again touching up on the "technical" part as well as the "heart" part of both filmmaking and poverty. We were also given a chance to buy some of Pen's balut after the screening !

(Yes, they still live along the riles... although at that time Ditsi also told us that the family was being awarded a home in one Gawad Kalinga community, and that some of their kids, adopted or biological were also given scholarships by concerned citizens)

In one of our DM 201 classes, we discussed an article on how hungry Filipinos are. The article pointed out that we now define hungry as having eaten "once in three months." Interestingly, Pinoys now get more value for their P10,000.00 , not because it can buy more food - but because most have lowered their standards for what they consider as full meals. As one classmate put it, families can stretch their peso by choosing to make soy sauce their viands rather than buying meat or fish which can only feed a few people for a few days.

This was when we explored the possibility of viewing Riles, also to give our Vietnamese classmates an "almost" first hand experience of life on the tracks.

Upon consultation with some contacts, I learned that the filmmakers don't lend or sell the film. We have to organize the "perfect cinematic experience" for the potential audience (they have certain technical requirements) , and the filmmakers should also be present.

I think this is a wonderful opportunity though, I wonder what the Departnment feels about organizing a film showing of Riles for the whole college? Or maybe grad school?

Thoughts, anyone?