25 Years, 7 Films, 1 Nation: EDSAngangdaan: The EDSA Film Festival

EDSA: Where from? Where to?

Twenty-five years have passed from the time of the EDSA Revolution of 1986. A new generation of Filipinos has since grown up, and stories about EDSA and People Power have since been retold, rehashed, and even revised over time.

Imagining the nation in various cultural forms and narratives has always comprised an integral process for the Filipino people— and this has never been as true as in the case of the EDSA narratives. Thus, this upcoming December, Focus on the Global South-Philippines is showcasing the works of multi-awarded as well as up-and-coming filmmakers to tell new stories and propose fresh perspectives about the three EDSA events that have shaped us as a nation through a film fest dubbed EDSAngagdaan: The EDSA Film Festival. Read on.

FOCUS Awards video grants to Youth, Women and Professionals

Focus on the Global South-Philippines held contract signing with the grantees for its EDSA Mo, EDSA Ko video grant initiative August 18 at Café Via Mare, Asian Studies Center in UP Diliman. Each grantee is entitled to a seed fund to produce the film proposal submitted to and chosen by Focus on the Global South. The winning applicants are : Eva Aurora Callueng (Women’s category); Angela Garrido (Women’s category); Andrea Regine Reyes and her team members Vianca Baliao, Mia Sinaguinan, Marge Calingo, Desiree Carillo, JJ Collins, Jam Tuazon, Therese Umali, Randy Valdez, Christa Balonkita from Miriam College (Youth category); and Eloisa Sanchez with Richard Legaspi, Seymour Sanchez and Hubert Tibi for the Open category. Jenina Joy Chavez, head of Focus on the Global South-Philippines, signed on the agreements on behalf of the organization. Read on.

 

Remembering the Events of EDSA 1986, EDSA Dos and Tres
By Jerik Cruz and Cess Celestino

“The Marcoses have left the country.”

When Radio dzRH finally declared this on the evening of February 25, 1986, it is said that celebrations spread like wildfire throughout the streets of Manila. All across the city, Filipinos of all origins set aside their social differences, singing, hooting and crying together in jubilation. Nuns marched hand-in-hand with soldiers, soldiers embraced civilians, and civilians themselves danced the night away under suddenly firework-lit skies. Read on.

 

Opening Remarks during the EDSA Stories Launch
By Jenina Joy Chavez

Good afternoon.

In time for the July 2005 State of the Nation Address of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Focus Philippines boldly issued a statement called “Reclaiming Revolution”. Decrying the subverted “EDSA System”, or what we saw as a “combination of formal electoral democracy supplemented by an insurrectionary dimension exercised to legitimize non-electoral changes in political regimes”, we understood why people were not flocking to EDSA when the clamor for the resignation of the former president was loud. We talked of a system of formal democracy that belies, and even perpetuates, persistent structural socio-economic inequality. We talked of “basic ideals of EDSA that remain unfulfilled and the new aspirations people acquired while bearing witness to the vagaries of elites entrenched in our sorry political system”. Yes, we were “melodramatic”, or for some of you who would be around long enough to understand, “grim and determined”. Read on.

 

Minsan Lang Tayo Maging Bata
By Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III

Minsan lang tayo maging bata. Let’s face it, young people will always have enough energy to do just about anything and everything they want. That has always been the case. Alam ko dahil minsan rin akong naging bata.

When I was young (…younger!), long, long before I set foot in the halls of Congress, I was in the streets. Twenty five years ago, I was in EDSA. And today, after 25 long years, we will once again hear the stories of how the Filipino, armed only with faith and resilience, marched for change. Today, we begin to retell the stories of how the Filipino, fuelled back then by the passion of youth and idealism, marched in EDSA. Read on.