Overseas Filipino Workers, an A-Z of Cultural Exports

Y is for Yolanda, A-Z of Filipino Cultural Exports

Post November 2013, the world reached out to the Philippines, in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, more widely known as Typhoon Haiyan. The media spotlight shone on the devastation that the tropical cyclone left behind on the exposed east coast of the Philippines. Foreign Aid Charities came from every corner of the globe to help clear and repair the broken city of Tacloban, on the east coast island of Leyte. Recently Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic Church came to the people, in February 2015, instilling words of hope and faith.

In the aftermath of the event, news articles continue to circulate and be published, documentaries and films endeavor to highlight the social, economic, environment and spiritual impact of Typhoon Yolanda.

The world is looking and listening to the Philippines; subversively this is an opportunity for the country’s identity to be re-profiled, allowing the public to perhaps reconsider its preconceived judgments of a forgotten third world.

‘Megastorm: World’s Biggest Typhoon’ film – can be watched here

‘Killer Typhoon’ Doco – can be watched here

Lav Diaz film ‘Storm Children: Book One‘ 

Life in the Phillipines: Preparing for the next Typhoon – can be read here

#OFW more than a country of good looking, half-wit, opportunistic terrorists

X is for Xyza Cruz Bacani, A-Z of Filipino Cultural Exports

B: 1987 / ‘Photography takes Filipino maid from Hong Kong to New York’ – reads a CNN headline (February 20, 2015). Reporting from Hong Kong (CNN) – A domestic worker from the Philippines who moonlights as a photographer in Hong Kong will be leaving her job in May to pursue a dream career in New York.

The story of Xyza Cruz Bacani, 27, is described by the press as one of Cinderella. Her Prince in this modern day adaptation, is substituted for the right to education. Bacani –  1 of 7 ‘Human Rights’ fellows was awarded a 6 week photojournalism scholarship funded by the Magnum Foundation at New York University.  Working as a chambermaid with her mother in Hong Kong, Bacani’s intimate portraits of ‘Overseas Filipino Workers’, gives a platform to discuss the injustices of modern day slavery in recent emerging economies.

Wiki describes her story of that as a typical Pinoy. The eldest of 3 children, Bacani – tied down to the weight of her country’s sorry misfortune, was thus forced into exile, in order to raise funds for her siblings education. Her story is one of hope, giving Pinoy’s abroad a voice, beyond the subservient roles and responses of ‘Yes Sir/ No Sir /As you wish Sir, Thank you Mam’. Xyza Cruz Bacani’s photography is an example of filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik’s call to a new movement towards making films, with ‘stories that are truly Filipino’.

Xyza Cruz Bacani work can be viewed here.

#OFW more than a country of good looking, half-wit, opportunistic terrorists

W is for Weng Weng, A-Z of Filipino Cultural Exports

1957 – 1992 / ‘The Search for Weng Weng’ (2013) is a 90 minute documentary produced by Philippine Cult Film enthusiast Andrew Leavold. The film is an accumulation of 3 visits and over 40 interviews to unravel the myth behind the ‘midget Filipino James Bond’. Leavold’s ten years of research on genre filmmaking in the Philippines formed the basis of Mark Hartley’s documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010) (M is for Machete Maidens Unleashed), on which Leavold is also Associate Producer

Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, Leavold is a  PhD graduate from Brisbane’s Griffith University, his thesis “Bamboo Gods And Bionic Boys: A History Of Pulp Filmmaking In The Philippines” is soon to be published as a book.

Andrew Leavold Bio can be read here

Weng Weng’s Bio, written by Andrew Leavold can be read here

‘The Search for Weng Weng’ trailer can be watched here

#OFW more than a country of good looking, half-wit, opportunistic terrorists

V is for Ramon Valera, A-Z of Filipino Cultural Exports

1908 – 1997/ ‘The contribution of Ramon Valera, whose family hails from Abra, lies in the tradition of excellence of his works, and his commitment to his profession, performing his magical seminal innovations on the Philippine terno.

Valera is said to have given the country its visual icon to the world via the terno. In the early 40s, Valera produced a single piece of clothing from a four-piece ensemble consisting of a blouse, skirt, overskirt, and long scarf. He unified the components of the baro’t saya into a single dress with exaggerated bell sleeves, cinched at the waist, grazing the ankle, and zipped up at the back. Using zipper in place of hooks was already a radical change for the country’s elite then. Dropping the panuelo–the long folded scarf hanging down the chest, thus serving as the Filipina’s gesture of modesty–from the entire ensemble became a bigger shock for the women then. Valera constructed the terno’s butterfly sleeves, giving them a solid, built-in but hidden support. To the world, the butterfly sleeves became the terno’s defining feature.

Even today, Filipino fashion designers study Valera’s ternos: its construction, beadworks, applique, etc. Valera helped mold generations of artists, and helped fashion to become no less than a nation’s sense of aesthetics. But more important than these, he helped form a sense of the Filipino nation by his pursuit of excellence’.

Ramon Valera was awarded the title of National Artists of the Philippines in 2006. Text taken from National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Image – Imelda in her early days, modelling Valera’s designs.

#OFW more than a country of good looking, half-wit, opportunistic terrorists