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Stories of persons with disabilities (PWDs) took center stage at the Persons with Digitabilities International Film Festival in celebration of the 45th National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week on Thursday, July 20.
Groups and individuals gathered at the QC X Museum in Quezon City to open the film festival and listened to messages from various PWD groups and advocates.
The films featured in the festival are part of the LoveLife Project led by its director Crisaldo Pablo. They are scholars from the filmmaking workshops for PWDs held by Pablo.
According to Pablo, making his films was about having an impact on the audience.
“This is about the community, this is about the audience,” Pablo said.
“Ang focus natin is social good. Ang focus natin ay tayo at ang community natin,” he added.
The director said that he hopes the festival could amplify the voices of the marginalized, especially PWDs and those with chronic diseases.
LoveLife Project
Films featured in the festival include “Mamie Mo Tess,” “Para Papa Rob” and “Mga Tanong Kay Mong”. All films were produced from Pablo’s workshops that cover everything from script writing to acting to the production process.
“We asked them for their stories muna and then we base the short stories dun sa experience nila para it’s not that difficult for them to interpret,” Pablo said.
In all three films, disabled actors play disabled characters that tell stories of their disability.
The films tackle topics of marriage, dating and parenthood as disabled persons. They showcase the struggles and challenges as well as stories of hope and perseverance of PWDs.
Despite some technical flaws, all three films garnered warm reception from the audience.
For Rob Santos, one of the PWD actors in the films, the feeling of seeing themselves on screen with their own stories is “overwhelming but fulfilling.”
“Noong una challenging talaga kasi hindi ko naman alam paano umarte, but at the end of the day natutunan ko naman,” Santos added. “‘Yung confidence ko medyo bumalik.”
Finding ‘digitabilities’
The festival’s title is a wordplay between disabilities and digital abilities – something that Pablo hoped to foster in the workshops he conducted.
Mounting the productions was no easy feat, especially as Pablo had to cater to persons with different disabilities.
“At the start it was very challenging because different abilities meant different needs and different capacities,” he said.
Although he mentioned having some difficulty in communicating with both hearing and visually-impaired cast and crew, the director said that in the end, he was able to universalize his message to everyone.
No one left behind
Themes of inclusion and equal opportunity were present throughout the opening program of the festival.
Deborah Dacanay of the Quezon City Persons with Disability Affairs Office said that films are a way to widen awareness of the rights of PWDs.
“Sa pamamagitan ng pelikula mas napapakita ‘yung sitwasyon ng mga persons with disability,” she said. “It’s also an eye opener for persons without disabilities.”
Susan Dayao of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts also said that films open a “window” for the community so that no one gets left behind.
“When we open our minds sa kagandahan, sa talento, kakayahan ng persons with disabilities, more opportunities ang mabibigay natin sa kanila,” Dacanay added.
To complement the film festival, the event also held a job fair for PWDs and a bazaar for PWD-owned businesses. This is open to the public until 5 p.m. of July 21.
The event is designed to be a series of pocket festivals. It will run again on World Mental Health Month in October, Campaign Against VAWC in November, World AIDS Day and International Day of Persons with Disabilities in December.
This film festival puts PWDs front, back and center
Source: Filipino Trend Viral
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