The Philippines expanded its profile at this year´s Berlinale with the German premiere of the documentary film “Motherland” (Bayang Ina Mo) and the participation by six young filmmakers in the Berlinale Talent Campus.

“Motherland” by Filipino American filmmaker Ramona Diaz premiered at this year´s Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) with a full house screening at the Cinestar Cinema in Potsdamer Platz, Berlin on 12 February 2017.  It was followed by a Q&A with Ms. Diaz and her crew.

The documentary film Motherland took us into the heart of what could be the planet’s busiest maternity hospital located in the Philippines’ capital. The film’s viewer, like an unseen outsider dropped unobtrusively into the hospital’s stream of activity, passed through hallways, entered rooms and listened in on conversations. Three women emerged to share their stories with other mothers, their families, doctors and social workers. While each of them faced daunting odds at home, their optimism, honesty and humor suggested a strength that they will certainly have to summon in the years ahead.

On the genesis of her film which was shot exclusively on a cinéma vérité approach, Diaz said, “I started developing a film about reproductive rights and reproductive justice back in 2011.  Initially I had wanted to follow the social and political drama swirling around the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill.  While researching the film, I visited the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital…; it averages 60 births a day—and at its peak, as many as 100 babies within a 24-hour period. Fabella is the final safety net for very poor pregnant women, most of whom cannot afford either contraception or the delivery fee.  The images I saw at the hospital – the nurses who did their best to tame the noisy chaos of Emergency Room arrivals, the crowded corridors, the premature births and cramped recovery rooms with double occupancy of single beds – gripped me and wouldn’t let go.  It was soon evident that the story I was looking for, a story about reproductive justice and maternal and women’s rights, unfolded within the hospital walls.”

Ramona Diaz is an award-winning Asian-American filmmaker. Her other films include Spirits Rising, Imelda, and The Learning, Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey.  Recently she was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Ramona has been a film envoy for the American Film Showcase, a joint program of the U.S. Department of State and the University of Southern California (USC) that brings American films to audiences worldwide. She has conducted master classes and production and post-production workshops all over the world, including in Iraq, Laos, Morocco, Qatar, Zimbabwe, Brazil, and throughout the United States.

Up and comping filmmakers from the Philippines were also in Berlinale, joining 250 participants from 71 countries in this year´s Talent Campus.  The six Filipino participants were chosen to take part in the extensive summit program of master classes, workshops and panel discussions with top-notch experts. They are actor Aaron Rivera, Director Alyx Ayn Guerrero Arumpac, production designer/art director Monica Sebial, producer Tonee Acejo, film critic/journalist Richard Bolisay and production designer/art director and producer Popo Diaz.

Since 2003, Berlinale Talents has become an annual summit and networking platform of the Berlin International Film Festival for outstanding creatives from the fields of film and drama series.  It is an initiative of the Berlinale and a business division of the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH and funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, in cooperation with Creative Europe MEDIA, a programme of the European Union, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

The Philippine Embassy continues to support Philippine participation in the Berlinale by way of promotion and constructive meetings with visiting delegations.  This year, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chair Liza Diño and Executive Director Don Gerwin Arawan attended the festival and the European Film Market (EFM) in preparation for the country´s participation at the EFM next year.  Possible projects in line with the 100^th Year of Philippine Cinema and the ASEAN Integration Festival were discussed during FDCP´s courtesy call with the Philippine Embassy. END

Philippine Photographer Jake Verzosa called on Ambassador Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek on 23 January 2017 and presented the Embassy with a copy of his book “The Last Tattooed Women of Kalinga.”  The book was recently chosen as one of the recipients of the “Steidl Book Award Asia” by renowned German designer, curator and publisher Gerhard Steidl alongside other books by photographers from India, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China. Winners traveled to Göttingen, Germany in January 2017 to work on the publication of their books which will be released collectively as “8 Books for Asia” later this year.

Today, some of the most renowned photographers and artists across the globe are part of the Steidl program, including Joel Sternfeld, Bruce Davidson, Robert Frank, Robert Adams, Karl Lagerfeld, Lewis Baltz, Ed Ruscha, Roni Horn, and Juergen Teller, to name but a few.

“The Last Tattooed Women of Kalinga”, presented a poetic romanticism of a seemingly dying tattoo culture among Kalinga women. In the photographer’s words, “the main purpose of doing this was to document the last remaining people who adorn these tattoos and to hopefully reverse the changing perception of beauty among the Kalinga. The tattoos used to be a symbol of beauty, wealth, and honor but now, most see them as ancient, barbaric, and a stigma.”

Vogue International editor Suzy Menkes lauded this particular series at Paris Photo 2014. “Naked arms in pictures of aged tattooed skin taken in the Philippines. Jake Verzosa’s digital black-and-white prints… showed women whose skin seemed to be patterned as if by a lacy sweater… It’s at one hand historical and on the other a sort of poetry unfolding as a record for posterity.”

The book´s first edition was published by Silverlens, and had its grand launch at the international fine art photography fair, Paris Photo, in 2014.  END

The Sinulog Festival in honor of the infant Santo Niño was celebrated by Filipino-German communities across Germany in January. Philippine Ambassador to Germany Melita S. Sta. Maria-Thomeczek was with the Filipino-German community in Bayreuth during their Sinulog celebration on 7 January 2017.  After the Mass, the community held a procession, braving below freezing temperatures to observe a national religious tradition.

Ambassador Sta. Maria-Thomeczek also graced the Sinulog festivities in Hamburg on 15 January which started with the celebration of the Holy Mass led by Fr. Simon Boiser SVD and featured a reenactment of the first celebration of the Sinulog in the Philippines commemorating the Filipinos´ acceptance of Christianity.

In her remarks to the celebrants in Bayreuth and Hamburg, Ambassador Sta.Maria-Thomeczek extolled the Filipinos’ strong sense of Faith which could be seen in the practice of  our  national devotions. She enjoined one and all, in the spirit of our pagka-makatao, makabayan and maka-Diyos not to miss passing on Filipino values to their children and to continuing supporting and praying for one another and for the Philippines.   The good news about the fast economic growth of the Philippines was also shared.

The Filipino Community in Berlin, led by Filipino Chaplain Fr. Jun de Ocampo SVD, commemorated the Feast of Santo Niño on the same day with a concelebrated Mass, blessing of Santo Niño images and Sinulog dances.  Consul General Donna Rodriguez delivered remarks in celebration of the occasion at the Holy Ghost Church in Bayernallee.  She spoke of the community´s unwavering faith and devotion to the Santo Niño and how this had strengthened them as they built new lives for themselves and their families in foreign lands:  “For many years now, the Philippine community in Berlin has celebrated the feast of the Sto. Niño every January. The yearly re-enactment of what we believe to have happened during the very first Sinulog in 1521 serves not only to renew our devotion to the Sto. Niño but to rejuvenate our oneness as a community even as we face both the challenges and opportunities of the year ahead.” END