The Active Vista International Human Rights Film Festival opens its 4th edition in commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the People Power Revolution with the screening of the film, EDSA XXX by filmmaker KHAVN on February 24, Wednesday, 6:00 PM at the Shang Cineplex 4, Shangri-la Mall, Mandaluyong City.
The festival opens in five key regional cities nationwide – Iloilo, Cebu, Dumaguete, Davao and Metro Manila, then travel to different universities and communities and runs till December 10, International Human Rights Day.
Active Vista eyes to “inspire a revolution of the minds of its audience by bringing together truth and imagination, advocacy and art, and empowerment and entertainment on the big screen.”
“The power of cinema lies on its ability to mirror and hammer society by tapping into our consciousness. Sometimes, It is in encountering the imaginary that social truths become amplified — this is ‘truth X Imagination’. With this year’s Active Vista, we invite the public to surrender to the logic of dreams with hope that the absurdity of imagination and fantasy churns out memories of historical truths and guide the nation towards the path of the real EDSA sans the traffic and pollution,” said festival director Leni Velasco.
Khavn’s EDSA XXX opens the festival on the 24th with a by-invitation-only screening at the Shangri-la Mall. This will be followed by screenings of Jun Lana’s Barber’s Tales on the 25th and Pepe Diokno’s Kapatiran on the 26th, also at Shangri-la. Ara Chawdhury’s Miss Bulalacao, meanwhile, goes to Dumaguete on the February 25.
On the last day of the festival opening run, February 27, simultaneous screenings will take place. Three internationally acclaimed foreign films, The Missing Picture by Rithy Panh, Citizenfour by Laura Poitras, and Margarita with a Straw by Shonali Bose, will be shown at the UP Film Center; while another film by Diokno, Engkwentro, will be screened in Iloilo. Chawdhury’s Miss Bulalacao comes home to Cebu for a back-to-back screening; whereas Chuck Gutierrez’s Iisa goes to Davao.
The film festival will be attended by various personalities, including Malaysia’s Freedom Film Festival Director, Anna Har and New York based celebrated Filipina writer and feminist, Ninotchka Rosca. Hon. Chito Gascon, Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, Ola Almgren, United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, and Jaco Beerends, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will also attend.
Active Vista is organized by DAKILA, founded by Lourd de Veyra, Noel Cabangon, Ronnie Lazaro, Parokya ni Edgar bassist Buwi Meneses and the late comedian Tado.
For more information, visit www.activevista.ph.
