Images Festival kicks off on April 9 this year, and we’re excited to co-present the following film programmes!
Reel Asian is proud to co-present The Kalampag Tracking Agency and Storm Children: Book One at the 28th edition of Images Festival. The Kalampag Tracking Agency is a collection of experimental films from the Philippines and its diaspora programmed by Shireen Seno and Merv Espina. From acclaimed Filipino director Lav Diaz, Storm Children: Book One documents the aftermath of Hurricane Yolanda through the children affected by the disaster. The festival takes place from April 9-18, 2015. For more information, click here.
THE KALAMPAG TRACKING AGENCY
Programmed by Shireen Seno and Merv Espina
Friday April 10, 7:00pm
AGO Jackman Hall (317 Dundas St. West)
Tickets: $12 general admission | $6 for members, seniors and underemployed
Buy tickets here.
SYNOPSIS: Overcoming institutional and personal lapses to give attention to little-seen works—some quite recent, some surviving loss and decomposition—this program collects loose parts in motion, a series of bangs, or kalampag in Tagalog, assembled by their individual strengths and how they might resonate off each other and a contemporary audience. Featuring some of the most striking films and videos from the Philippines and its diaspora, this initiative continues to navigate the uncharted topographies of Filipino alternative and experimental moving image practice from the past 30 years. More information
MGA ANAK NG UNOS (STORM CHILDREN: BOOK ONE)
Director Lav Diaz
Friday April 17, 8:00pm
AGO Jackman Hall (317 Dundas St. West)
Tickets: $12 general admission | $6 for members, seniors and underemployed
Buy tickets here.
SYNOPSIS: On November 8, 2013, super typhoon Yolanda smashed into the Philippines. With sustained winds of 316 kph and gusts as powerful as 380 kph the storm was one of the most powerful and destructive in recorded history, killing more than 6,000 people and injuring over 28,000 while leaving millions homeless or displaced.
Internationally acclaimed and award-winning director Lav Diaz documents the aftermath of the event by following children as they play in the storm-flooded streets, dig in the refuse and rubble of a sun-scorched beach or meander past the hulls of beached ships and makeshift housing along the shore. The activities of the boys and girls are sometimes focused and at others haphazard, but the camera’s unrelenting attention to their tasks gives us time to observe the post-apocalyptic surroundings in which they exist.
A master of epic narrative filmmaking, Diaz avoids drama and pathos when recording the actions of these children. His restraint and generosity serve to show the subjects of this documentary not as helpless victims but as courageous and resourceful people making their way through impossible circumstances. More information.