Fourteenth session of illegal_cinema

Screening of a film proposed by Juan Guardiola followed by discussion.

Screening: EBOLUSYON NG ISANG PAMILYANG PILIPINO (2005, Lav Diaz, B/W, 634 min.)*

*The movie is 10 hours long. We’ll take some breaks throughout the screening, which will end before 03:00AM approximately.

Filmed over a period of nine years, Evolution of a Filipino Family presents the period between 1971 and 1987, including the era of martial law imposed by former president Ferdinand Marcos, and his fall from power. Taking a long, slow look at the Gallardos, an archetypical poor family that lives in the jungle, the film analyzes the various generations that come together in the household. With a running time of over ten hours, the film tells the story of a family and, through this one family, of the entire Filipino people, who display a notable ability to evolve and adapt to adverse circumstances. Lav Diaz was born in Datu Paglas (Philippines) in 1958. He studied at the Mowelfund Film Institute of Manila. After six years in New York, Diaz returned to the Philippines to direct his firs film, Serafin Geronimo: Criminal of Barrio Concepcion. A key moment in his career came with West Side Kid, a film that reveals his very personal cinematographic language. After Jesus Revolutionary, his particular take on science-fiction, Diaz finished his most ambitious work: the monumental Evolution of a Filipino Family. A true cult figure for the most enquiring and demanding cinephiles. Lav Diaz is doubtless the master of the last twenty years of Filipino film.

Juan Guardiola (1965) studied Philosophy and Arts and is an art historian, curator, conservator and the writer of several books and catalogues, notably, his studies on postcolonialism such as Filipiniana, El Imaginario Colonial and Cinema Filipinas. Historia, teoría y crítica fílmica (1899-2009).

Screening in collaboration with the Indie Pinoy. New film in the Philippines program by Bizbak.

(link: BIZBAK upcoming events)
(link: BIZBAK program 2011-12)