Email fdwhcc@gmail.com / fdwhcc.secretary@gmail.com
Website: http://fdwhcc.webs.com/
SEC Registration No: A200292312
Taxpayer Identification No: 243 610 740 000
DSWD Registration No: NCR-2008-R-098
Dear friends and supporters,
Greetings from the Filipino Deaf Community!
It is our pleasure to invite you to a screening of the award-winning
independent film “Hunghong sa Yuta” on July 16 at the U.P. Film Center,
Cine Adarna from 2:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m.
The Filipino Deaf Women’s and Crisis Center Inc, (FDWHCC) was established
in November 1999 and incorporated in 2001. The FDWHCC is a Deaf people’s
organization comprised of Deaf women. Our vision and mission is to uplift
the welfare of Filipino Deaf women by upholding equality and social
justice through the improvement of standards of living. We foresee a
future wherein Filipino Deaf women are treated equally and without
discrimination in all aspects of life whether at home, in the workplace,
within the community and in the entire country. Our current concerns focus
on assistance for abused Deaf women.
Last year, we opened the Rainbow House (RH), a shelter for Deaf women in
difficult circumstances. It is the only one of its kind in the country.
It arose from a need of the Deaf community where the incidence of
gender-based violence is very high, compounded by inaccessibility of
facilities and programs in general for the Deaf. To date, we have housed
several Deaf women clients at RH, almost all victims of sexual violence.
The RH provides services to Deaf women victims / survivors of sexual
assault, domestic violence and stalking. We believe that violence is a
learned behaviour and envision a world where it is not tolerated. For
more information about RH, please visit http://fdwhcc.webs.com/.
As a small non-profit Deaf organization, the demands for maintaining RH
are very great. Financial support is needed primarily for meals, medical
appointments, legal-related expenses, therapeutic activities as well as
livelihood capital. Proceeds of this fund-raiser shall benefit not only
the organization but individual Deaf women who are striving to seek
justice and healing as well as regain their dignity.
The indie film “Hunghong sa Yuta” is a beautiful film by award-winning
director Arnel Mardoquio whose plot revolves around a group of Deaf
children in a fictional town in Mindanao. It is a powerful film not only
for its story and cinematography but also for the several relevant issues
that it touches on. It depicts the experiences of Muslims and indigenous
peoples in war-torn areas. It also shows the strong role of women in the
community, and the value of education. It speaks of the richness of our
cultures and communities. It is poignant, thought-provoking and
inspirational. Attached is an excerpt of a movie review by Bienvenido
Lumbera. We have chosen to screen this film not only because it includes
the theme of deafness and sign language in its plot but also because it is
truly a film that any Filipino would be proud of.
Please reserve tickets by email: fdwhcc.secretary@gmail.com. Tickets are
P120.00 (regular price) and P100.00 (students with current ID).
Thank you very much and we look forward to your support and attendance!
Sincerely,
Ma Rowena Rivera
0921.350.4051 / 0932.566.0318 (SMS only)
rbrivera2205@gmail.com
++++
HUNGHONG SA YUTA: A MINDANAO FILM FOR THE NATION
A film review
Bienvenido Lumbera
National Artist for Literature
“Earth’s Whisper” as the English translation of the title of Arnel
Mardoquio’s film about war and peace in Mindanao easily cues us on
how to read this story about a clutch of deaf-mute children in a
mountain community consisting of Christians, Muslims and Lumads, and the
teacher from the city who introduces them to the alphabet and numbers.
War between rebels and the military has devastated the community of
Hinyok, its most telling casualty being children born without the ability
to speak and hear whose fathers are now intent on training them to become
fighters to defend their land. Vigo Cruz, artist and toy-maker,
answers a posted notice about Hinyok’s need for a teacher, and his work
with the children brings joy and hope to the young war victims and their
mothers.
Mardoquio’s screenplay weaves together with realism and symbolism the many
contradictions that the war had imposed on the community. The
military has been sent by the Manila government to the jungles of Mindanao
to decimate the rebels as per the demands of politicians and businessmen
who want peace so their careers and business could prosper. The
communities are forced to take up arms to defend their farms and homes.
With husbands away as guerilla fighters, the mothers find themselves
taking sides in the war, suspicious of strangers who come into their
midst until Vigo comes to Hinyok and presents himself as a teacher to
their children. Thus, armed with the abakada and numbers, the
children become persons able to get hold of an alternative to their
crudely-fashioned wooden toy guns. Here Mardoquio’s narrative takes a
symbolic turn.
Having achieved their identity as persons, the children are on their way
to discovering the bond that integrates them as members of one community.
This is dramatized in their recovery of the brass instruments that the
war had caused to be abandoned in a stream following a massacre of
villagers. But the joy of making music is disrupted by the revelation
that a man assumed to be a rebel leader turns out to be a soldier spying
on the community. The deaths that ensue bring out the lamentable
consequences of war that does not spare the lives of men of goodwill such
as Vigo, the tribal woman leader Buyag Inggan, the intrepid fighter Wahab,
the recalcitrant Amrayda, all of them betrayed by the traitorous Taok.
An advocacy project of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Youth Ministry
under the leadership of Br. Noelvic Deloria SC, “Hunghong sa Yuta” is
part of what its producers intends as a “mobile peace education campaign.”
What distinguishes it from the usual advocacy project is the meticulous
care given by the director and his staff, and the passion and excellence
of the finished project. Mardoquio as director had been able to assemble a
highly competent cast from Davao City theater folk that includes Nelson
Dino, Lucia Cijas, Joan Mae Soco, Popong Landero, Mario Leofer Lim and
Christine Lim, and the child actors Jaymar Generana and Marvin Mindog
blend with confidence with the adult performers. Of the technical staff
assisting Mardoquio, outstanding is the work of the cinematographer Egay
Navarro whose achievement with a single high-density digital camera can
only be described as “miraculous.” As film editor, Arthur Ian Garcia
provides Navarro superior assistance in turning out a smooth but dynamic
narrative flow for the film in spite of the limited imagery captured by
only one camera. Composer Popong Landero has provided music that
hauntingly captures the ethnic atmosphere of Hinyok and its three-people
culture.
“Hunghong sa Yuta” is a Davao film that richly deserves to be seen
nation-wide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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