Migrant Women Rise: Stories of Red-Tagged Overseas Filipino Workers
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Overseas Filipino Workers in Hong Kong risk their lives and reputations as they speak out against the anti-people policies of the Philippine government. The documentary follows two migrant leaders who are victims of red-tagging under the Duterte Administration as they defend the rights of their fellow migrants, while navigating the challenges of life far from home. Directed by Francis Catedral. Produced by Hong Kong Campaign for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines. Runtime: 70 min.
Impermanent Residence
A newsletter about the transnational activism of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, documentary filmmaking, and theologies of migration, lament, and the Filipino diaspora.
Love Like Pearls
In this documentary short, the Catedral brothers tell the story of how their parents met, got married and made it through hard times amidst moving from the Philippines to the United States, and from Los Angeles, California to Roswell, New Mexico. Using both new footage recorded by the filmmakers as well as footage from old home videos the brothers have crafted a different type of love story that celebrates their parents' 30th wedding anniversary while also documenting their larger family history. A cross-generational Filipino-American exploration of relationship, identity, faith and migration, "Love Like Pearls" is a specific story that highlights more general feelings related to the difficulties and joys of family life.
Monuments Tour
Identity is dynamic and constantly shifting, but the symbols defining "American-ness" are often slow-changing and rooted in the past. Static representations of identity can lead to a sense of dissonance and invisibility for many communities in the United States. Using long exposure photography, I've attempted to explore this idea of dissonance by capturing images in which statues are clear and in focus, while human faces are blurry. The idea is that our symbols of history and patriotism tend to privilege static images of the past rather than dynamic, living humans of the present. Using my family members as subjects, I hope to bring attention to the fact that Asian American experiences and historic contributions, in particular, lack representation.