SIGLO NG PAGLULUWAL

]]>PROPOSITIONS - Selected examples of a different cinema.]]>

One of the most adventurous filmmakers to emerge from the Philippines in decades, Lav Diaz is, in many ways, the spiritual father of what some have called the Filipino New Wave, a group of filmmakers who have adopted digital technology to create an intimate and raw style. At the same time, he stands separate from them, often working on an epic scale and addressing historical shifts in Philippine society. His latest film, Century of Birthing, also stands on its own. Telling two seemingly unrelated tales, it is a grand meditation on the roles of the artist, the prophet and the acolyte. The first story focuses on Homer, a filmmaker who has spent years working on his latest opus - and still isn’t happy with it. Hounded by friends, co-workers and festival programmers to finish the damn thing, he resists every entreaty, countering a programmer’s please to send him the film with, “I don’t make films for festivals, I make them for cinema.” The second story concentrates on a Christian cult in a rural region - a group largely comprised of young women and dominated by its charismatic leader. (Steve Gravestock)