Boston - MIM and RAIL hosted a film workshop and screening of the film The Golf War with Director Jen Schradie on January 20th and 21st. The workshop, attended by aspiring activist filmmakers, was an opportunity to learn from someone who is a great model for what activists can do to creatively get information out to a broad audience. We appreciate the example that Jen provides as someone who gave up a stable job in order to go to the Philippines for three months to make this movie, and then to work full time at promoting and distributing the film. And as someone who taught herself the skills needed to make films, Jen did a good job of demystifying the making of independent documentary films at the workshop.
The first message that Jen had for the workshop audience was to find something your passionate about and "take Nike to task - Just do it." She pointed out that political organizing skills can translate into producing skills. As Mao taught, putting politics in command is the most important requirement for serving the people, giving expertise a secondary role. We were pleased to learn that the costs of producing films have dropped dramatically in recent years to the point where it is now possible to purchase a digital camera for a few thousand dollars and edit the film on a personal computer.
The workshop included some useful information about how to get money to support the production and distribution of independent films. And Jen discussed the importance of not letting a film with an important political message sit on a shelf.
MIM and RAIL activists in attendance were inspired to use this newfound information to work on political movies to support our organizing work. What we lack is money for a camera. Anyone interested in helping out with this project should contact us and consider donating.
Utilizing university resources allowed FoRAIL to raise funds for promoting The Golf War around the country with the added perk of local activists getting the opportunity to view the film on a big screen. The event succeeded in drawing a wide variety of participants, some of whom attended the workshop. One of the greatest accomplishments of the event was bringing together activists, Filipino students and artists to support this revolutionary movie.
After the moving viewing, a comrade "passed the bucket" asking people to donate money to ensure future viewings. Jen Schradie emphasized the importance of grassroots organizing and the necessary funding from all participants to help pay for successive trips around the country. RAIL unites with her emphasis on expecting people to put their money where their mouth is.
The discussion began with an excellent question about development in the Philippines and what would serve the masses of the Filipino people, industrial development and tourism or agriculture and subsistence farming. RAIL and MIM unite with Jen's response, which focused not on what some developer thinks the Philippines needs, but building support for national self-determination. Currently, the Philippines is predominantly controlled by foreign interests, largest being the U$, who suck huge profits and resources from the Filipino people for First World consumption. National self-determination ensures that the Filipino people can decide for themselves without imperialist and military coercion what development should mean for the Philippines. Development, industry and agriculture should serve the long-term interests of the vast majority of the Filipino peoples, and not propped up dictators and their lacky government officials.
Though Jen did spend time with the New People's Army(NPA) in the Philippines, the movie lacks a clear explanation of the NPA's role in the structure of the revolutionary movement in the Philippines. A RAIL comrade gave some background information during the discussion, explaining that the NPA is the army of the Communist Party of the Philippines(CPP) which is struggling towards a two-staged revolution; the first stage being new democracy and the second being socialism, with the end goal of communism. The CPP leads the National Democratic Front, which is the name for the mass struggle against imperialism and the current regime in the Philippines.(for more info send $1 to the address on page 2 for a RAIL pamphlet on the NDF)
Another audience member asked about the difficult role of the documentary filmmaker. The question came from a scene where village participants were being bribed by government officials with food and music and duped into signing and accepting phony documents that would serve the land developers interests. The participant wanted to know where the director should draw the line between being "objective" and getting involved in a situation on the people's behalf. Jen's answer was revolutionary to the core when she said she makes a policy of getting involved and not pretending to be objective. She correctly pointed out that the act of her filming is subjective and makes qualitative changes to a situation by her mere presence. As for not involving oneself in a situation for fear of becoming too subjective, we say to get involved too. While a picture, film or any piece of documentary art can be used to educate in the future, a person always has the responsibility to involve themselves in whatever they think is unjust, on whatever level, and take responsibility for that involvement or lack thereof. The eternal struggle of the bourgeoisie press to be objective is a lie anyway. All news is subjective. We must acknowledge our role in reporting stories in a way that will best educate and organize people for a better tomorrow. For our role is not just to record history but to change it.
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