Give as a gift
“Everyday I’m reminded
that the reason I even have a voice
is because my story has never been just mine.
It has always belonged to the village
A family heirloom from my ancestors
who fought for their lives so that I can fight for ours.
This is how I know that more than anything
our stories have the power to change everything.
Why else would this country delight in our silence
and be content with leaving our history out of the narrative?”
-excerpt from the poem AAPIs Rising by Terisa Siagatonu
The works in this exhibition engage with the complexity of community and history while pushing boundaries that invite us to reimagine other realities. There is anticipation in these works, a gesture rooted in the joy that a liberatory future that’s expansive, decolonial, and gender-free is within reach. There are many of us dreaming and creating a world where social justice, queer identities, and other fundamental rights and social rights and opportunities exist more than not. Yet, despite a world so severe and unsparing, we can continue to look to our stories, songs, paintings, and poems to create maps and imagined spaces where no one asks permission to exist. Perhaps in these works, we can perfect the creation of counter systems that offer healing balms for those of us that need to leave behind a wearying past or present. Can we be reminded that it is possible to center well-being and that we can value and normalize healing scenarios in our daily lives? Beyond the ethnic cheerleading that tower over these observances, this exhibit asks its viewer to look through the lens of these Filipinx artists articulating a different world that might be around the corner.
In addition to the short films included in the collection, we invite you to watch the PBS American Masters film Maia Cruz Palileo: Becoming the Moon: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/maia-cruz-palileo-becoming-the-moon/15825/.
Guest Curator: Irene Soriano
It's California, during the Great Depression. A woman is confiding her most intimate thoughts in a church confessional, while the man on the other side listens silently and intently. But this is no ordinary religious ritual seeking salvation. The woman â a second generation Filipino farmhand â is rapt in roleplay reverie, her sensuous words aimed at her white American lover, during a historic period when such interracial relationships were forbidden by state law. The confession box transforms into a romantic time machine, ecstatic and melancholic, traveling into alternate futures. She manifests as multiple, dazzling women, and they can love freely.
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ISABEL SANDOVAL (she/her) is a Filipina filmmaker and actress based in New York. The Museum of Modern Art described Isabel as “a rarity among the young generation of Filipino filmmakers” while Criterion has touted her as "one of the most exciting and multitalented filmmakers on the indie scene." In 2019, Isabel became the first transgender woman of color to compete at the Venice Film Festival with her feature ‘Lingua Franca’. The film was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards and won the award for best narrative feature at the Bentonville Film Festival. For her performance, Isabel was named Best Actress at the 18th International Cinephile Society Awards, and at the Pacific Meridian International Film Festival. Earlier this year Isabel directed ‘Shangri-La’, a short film for the Prada Group’s acclaimed MIU MIU Women’s Tales series. Currently, Isabel is developing a drama for FX, and a feature film about the haunting of a Spanish conquistador in the 16th century Philippines. Her first two features, ‘Señorita’ and ‘Apparition’, are currently streaming on The Criterion Channel.
Website: https://blackdogfilms.com/directors/isabel-sandoval
- Runtime10 minutes
- DirectorIsabel Sandoval
- ScreenwriterIsabel Sandoval
- ProducerTani Cohen, Robert K. Rock, Max Brun
- CastIsabel Sandoval, Matt Fifer
- CinematographerMichael Merriman
- EditorIsabel Sandoval
“Everyday I’m reminded
that the reason I even have a voice
is because my story has never been just mine.
It has always belonged to the village
A family heirloom from my ancestors
who fought for their lives so that I can fight for ours.
This is how I know that more than anything
our stories have the power to change everything.
Why else would this country delight in our silence
and be content with leaving our history out of the narrative?”
-excerpt from the poem AAPIs Rising by Terisa Siagatonu
The works in this exhibition engage with the complexity of community and history while pushing boundaries that invite us to reimagine other realities. There is anticipation in these works, a gesture rooted in the joy that a liberatory future that’s expansive, decolonial, and gender-free is within reach. There are many of us dreaming and creating a world where social justice, queer identities, and other fundamental rights and social rights and opportunities exist more than not. Yet, despite a world so severe and unsparing, we can continue to look to our stories, songs, paintings, and poems to create maps and imagined spaces where no one asks permission to exist. Perhaps in these works, we can perfect the creation of counter systems that offer healing balms for those of us that need to leave behind a wearying past or present. Can we be reminded that it is possible to center well-being and that we can value and normalize healing scenarios in our daily lives? Beyond the ethnic cheerleading that tower over these observances, this exhibit asks its viewer to look through the lens of these Filipinx artists articulating a different world that might be around the corner.
In addition to the short films included in the collection, we invite you to watch the PBS American Masters film Maia Cruz Palileo: Becoming the Moon: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/maia-cruz-palileo-becoming-the-moon/15825/.
Guest Curator: Irene Soriano
It's California, during the Great Depression. A woman is confiding her most intimate thoughts in a church confessional, while the man on the other side listens silently and intently. But this is no ordinary religious ritual seeking salvation. The woman â a second generation Filipino farmhand â is rapt in roleplay reverie, her sensuous words aimed at her white American lover, during a historic period when such interracial relationships were forbidden by state law. The confession box transforms into a romantic time machine, ecstatic and melancholic, traveling into alternate futures. She manifests as multiple, dazzling women, and they can love freely.
---------------
ISABEL SANDOVAL (she/her) is a Filipina filmmaker and actress based in New York. The Museum of Modern Art described Isabel as “a rarity among the young generation of Filipino filmmakers” while Criterion has touted her as "one of the most exciting and multitalented filmmakers on the indie scene." In 2019, Isabel became the first transgender woman of color to compete at the Venice Film Festival with her feature ‘Lingua Franca’. The film was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards and won the award for best narrative feature at the Bentonville Film Festival. For her performance, Isabel was named Best Actress at the 18th International Cinephile Society Awards, and at the Pacific Meridian International Film Festival. Earlier this year Isabel directed ‘Shangri-La’, a short film for the Prada Group’s acclaimed MIU MIU Women’s Tales series. Currently, Isabel is developing a drama for FX, and a feature film about the haunting of a Spanish conquistador in the 16th century Philippines. Her first two features, ‘Señorita’ and ‘Apparition’, are currently streaming on The Criterion Channel.
Website: https://blackdogfilms.com/directors/isabel-sandoval
- Runtime10 minutes
- DirectorIsabel Sandoval
- ScreenwriterIsabel Sandoval
- ProducerTani Cohen, Robert K. Rock, Max Brun
- CastIsabel Sandoval, Matt Fifer
- CinematographerMichael Merriman
- EditorIsabel Sandoval