Saturday, August 15, 2009 • Showtime 7PM Visual Communications @ The Union Center for the Arts Visual Communications, in association with noted Philippine independent director Ruelo Lozendo, is pleased to present this collection of works by three internationally renowned filmmakers and one emerging voice from the New Philippine Independent Film Movement. Emerging director Dada Docot, along with enfants terrible Raya Martin, John Torres, and Khavn de la Cruz are spotlighted in short films that further illustrates the Philippine's continuing contributions to the range of adventurous and innovative films of world cinema. VENUE AND PARKING INFORMATION: VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS @ The Union Center for the Arts 120 Judge John Aiso Street, Basement Level, Los Angeles 90012 PARKING: $7 at City Lot 7 (entrance adjacent to Theatre; enter at Judge John Aiso St.) Also available for $8 at Japanese Village Plaza (Enter on Central), $5 after 4 pm. $6 at 402 E. 1st St., $3 after 4pm. Program subject to change and/or cancellation without prior notice. For updated program and event information, please check our website at www.vconline.org. Part 1: Triple Treat Three short films each from three prominent filmmakers in the international film festival circuit. Ever-evolving and pushing the boundaries of cinema, Raya Martin (fresh from two films featured in the 2009 Cannes Film Festival), John Torres and Khavn are showcased in diverse, innovative and subversive works culled from varying points in their young careers. Films by RAYA MARTIN: BAKASYON (The Visit) (Philippines, 2004) 16mm, 6 min. A young girl from the city is left to the care of her grandmother in the province. During her stay, the girl learns about her grandmother's mysterious identity. LIFE PROJECTIONS (Philippines, 2006) DV, 4 min. Raya Martin directed this metaphorical meditation on the Guimaras oil spill off the coast of the Philippines, the second largest oil spill in history. Rather than focusing on the environmental and economic devastation brought on by the accident, LIFE PROJECTIONS explores the sorrow and human loss brought on by the Guimaras tragedy, and how it touched the lives of so many Filipinos. LONG LIVE PHILIPPINE CINEMA! (Philippines, 2007) 16mm, 6 min. A woman paces back and forth in her dank, dimly lit office, reading scripts and counting her money. She's an all-powerful film producer who holds the purse-string of her nation's cinema and can make or break any young filmmaker she pleases. Suddenly, a gang of renegade cineastes break into her inner sanctum and take desperate steps to seize control of filmmaking in the Philippines. LONG LIVE PHILIPPINE CINEMA! is a satiric attack upon Lily Monteverde, aka Mother Lily, who controls Regal Entertainment, the largest film production house in the Philippines. Films by JOHN TORRES: VERY SPECIFIC THINGS AT NIGHT (Philippines, 2008) mobile phone, 5 min. A mobile phone film shot in Mahiyain Street (Shy Street), Sikatuna, a stone's throw away from the house of Chavit Singson, who also led the masses to bring then-President Estrada out of the presidential palace. HAI, THEY RECYCLE HEARTBREAKS IN TOKYO SO NOTHING'S WASTED (Philippines, 2008) mobile phone, 10min. A mobile short film on humans trying to recover. It is also about the future of recycling. ANDREA'T (Philippines, 2008) DV, 5min. A visual intermission containing distance, face, skin, and the pursuit of the familiar far from where the beloved sits. Films by KHAVN: CAN & SLIPPERS (Philippines, 2005) DV, 2 min. A boy from the slums plays football. His soccer ball is an empty can of Coke and his soccer shoes are a pair of flip-flops. A shocking message about the real world awaits you at the end. OUR DAILY BREAD (Philippines, 2006) DV, 3min. A short documentary on how one family lives out each day to earn their daily bread. How one man's trash is literally transformed into this family's treasure. RUBGY BOYZ (Philippines, 2006) DV, 3min. These boys know the dual essence of Rugby: playing football and sniffing solvent. They tell vampire jokes, rap about river deaths, and dive jack-knife into murky water. A cruel irony on the hope these children bring. Part 2: Double D Works by DADA DOCOT Adding fresh insights are two short films on identity and space in relation to international mobility from emerging talent Dada Docot. PERFORMING NATURALNESS (Philippines, 2008) 8mm, 3min. Living for about four years in Japan, one Filipina has grown quite tired of the "random" questioning of the immigration police who inquire about her visa status. One day, she gets off at Shinagawa train station (the stop closest to the city's busiest immigration office) to conduct a small social experiment. This one-time performance/experiment was constrained by the use of a single roll of 8mm film which runs for only three minutes. BAAD NG PAUNO (Restless) (Philippines, 2008) DV, 30min. My mother and aunt visit from Nabua, a small town 400 kilometers south of the county's capital. They come, however, not for mere leisure, but to fulfill a dream. Shot only in two days, the documentary follows the preparations of the filmmaker's relatives for the big day. As the documentary unfolds and as the reason for the characters' restlessness is revealed, the audience is invited to share a slice of my family's personal, and maybe, quite private, life stories.