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New Moon focuses on the plight of Philppine Muslims
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It
is the culmination of 25 years of showcasing the obscure, the
popular and the breakthroughs of Asian filmmaking. And this year it
is also a unique opportunity for Philippine-Muslim dramas, a new
genre in its own right. It is, to put it short, a celebration of all
things Asian with a special invitation to Islamic filmmaking.
With
the opening night selection of New Moon (Bagong Buwan), a
provocative new drama highlighting the injustices against Muslims in
Mindinao, Philippines, the Asian American International Film
Festival in New York is entering a new stage in its ongoing quest to
showcase Asian filmmakers. This year’s festival, which runs from
July 19-27, is premiering more than 100 films from the world over,
including China, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Japan
and of course, the Philippines.
David
Maquiling, co-director of the festival, says he didn’t have a
special theme in mind when choosing the films, but in the process an
overarching focus did emerge. “We were very careful and critical
that the films represented some sort of compassion, dignity and
respect of filmmakers for their material,” says Maquiling.
“In
the end that became the overriding theme for us: A sense of
humanity, a sense of sincerity of vision, for the commitment of
using the medium of film and video to the end of some social or
political commitment to the society at large,” he adds.
The
festival is the baby of Asian CineVision, an organization dedicated
to showcasing Asian American film and video. Long before Ang Lee’s
Sense and Sensibility, Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay and
Monsoon Wedding and Christine Choy’s Oscar-nominated Who
Killed Vincent Chin, the AAIFF was the haven for any Asian
filmmaker wanting to crossover from the oblivion of basement
premiers to the big screen venue.
The
festival has traveled far from its modest beginnings in New York
City’s Chinatown. From the Henry Street Art for Living Center in
the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the AAIFF has stepped up to the
upscale digs of the Asia Society on Park Avenue to celebrate its
silver anniversary.
Nearly
75 percent of the films showing this year are from unknown
filmmakers who sent their contributions in, Maquiling says. The rest
are more big-name films from distributors. “That’s what makes
our festival a little bit different,” he says. “These films
represent the future of filmmaking. For Asian CineVision, our
commitment, our mandate is to building a community of Asian American
filmmakers in the country.”
The
choice of New Moon as the opening night film was an easy one,
Maquiling notes, because it gave the organization the chance to
broaden its horizons while stressing socially-conscious filmmaking
at its finest.
“It
was an opportunity for us to recognize the emergence of Philippine
cinema on the world stage,” he says, adding that it’s the first
time any film festival has opened with a film from the Philippines.
Maquiling first saw the film in Manila in December 2001 and was
immediately impressed by its scope and attention to multifarious
issues.
“What
I like about it is it allows a very complex story to be told in a
complex way. It doesn’t simplify the story into right and
wrong,” he says. “It was the first time seeing a Philippine
film, or really any film, that dealt openly and honestly with the
situation [of Muslims in Mindinao] and told the movie from the
perspective of a young Muslim family. It’s not pro-Christian or
pro-Muslim; it’s pro-peace, about a family trying to survive.”
The
movie, directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya, tells the story of Ahmad
(Cesar Montano), a doctor who is unwillingly drawn into the
Muslim-Christian civil war when his son is killed. Ahmad professes
to be a follower of non-violence, but seeing his brother’s
extremist attitudes and the plight of Muslims in war-torn Mindanao
causes him to reconsider his moral beliefs.
Mindanao,
the second largest island in the Philippines, is home to the
country’s large Muslim community. The Muslims of Mindanao have
called for greater distribution of the wealth derived from the
region’s rich natural resources and have called for autonomy from
the country, resulting in a years-long bloody civil war.
New
Moon is one of a handful of movies by Muslim directors or by
anyone, for that matter, focusing on Islamic issues. The majority of
films showing at the festival come from far-Eastern countries,
including Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea. Maquiling says though the
festival means to represent the Asian Diaspora, it tends to focus on
far-Eastern filmmakers because they are more unknown.
“I
want [the festival] to be as varied and wide-reaching as
possible,” Maquiling says. “As far as filmmakers from the Middle
East, we didn’t get as many submissions as I would’ve liked.
Normally within the Asian-American community here in the states, the
focus is more on south Asia and Far-East Asia.
“In
the past we had a lot more from the Middle East, but those cinemas
have been recognized as strong nations as quality work. Now it’s
hard to get those films because distributors have scooped them
up,” he adds.
The
festival will conclude with a controversial film from India titled Maya,
which tells the story of a brutal ritual committed by priests
against a young girl.
For
more information, visit www.asiancinevision.org 
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