Women for women
Like the two sides of the train's tracks, binaries abound in the railside community—the lively and the heavy, the colorful and the monotonous, the man and the woman. But in Babae, a precise picture of such a world can be made even with just one gender.
Directed by Sigrid Bernardo, Babae was part of the gender issues day of PolitikART, an exhibit organized in the first week of February by the Political Science and Communication Departments, the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral, and the Assembly.
Pinay pride
"It was supposed to be the two-hour documentary that I've been planning since freshman year," says Bernardo of the short feature that won her the Best Director award in Cinemalaya 2005 and Best Short Film in Festival Internazionale di Cinema Gaylesbico e Queer Culture di Milano, also in 2005.
"I was inspired by my mother, my sisters and all the empowered women out there to make a documentary that had lots of different faces and stories of women." With feminist organization Gabriela in mind, Bernardo had her interviewees planned out.
Instead, Babae became a 20-minute linear movie packing in issues that femmes of all ages and walks of life encounter: child molestation, domestic violence, lesbian discrimination, and many others. Although the film touches on lesbianism the most, Bernardo explains that it's really about all kinds of women—she just needed one issue for the whole story to ride on. "This is my tribute to all women who keep fighting for their rights," says Bernardo.
Behind the scenes
Technical problems aside, the nature of the film brought with it different reactions from the people in the area where it was shot. "I didn't know how to explain the context of the movie to the kagawads and tanods of the [railside] community," shares Bernardo.
Having gone as far as writing and directing a film on gender issues, Bernardo was surprised with herself when it came to looking for the perfect tomboy within the community kids. "Ako pa yung nagka-issue with flatly saying ‘tomboy' that I had to use other ways of describing the character: siga, angas ... They were more upfront about it than I was," she says.
Eventually, the community adults pointed to the girl playing basketball, away from all the other kids lined up for auditions. She initially refused to act, but later agreed when her best friend offered to play the opposite part.
Older women in the area were also included in the film as interviewees—women who experience these issues firsthand and accept them as plain and simple facts of life. "Imag-ine if I put an elite woman there. It's a different story when there's poverty—she can't just sue her husband," shares Bernardo. Others hope that by participating in the film, they are able to voice out their needs to viewers who can do something about it, like NGOs and perhaps, Ateneans.
Empowering reviews
"It best portrays the Third World and its women," says Jay Bordon (IV AB PoS). "There [are] economic problems [and] societal problems, both of them affecting the identity and relationships that these women have."
But of all the comments and praises Bernardo has received for Babae, the most frequent and also the most touching for her is that it was funny, but it still made the viewer cry. "Others tell me that it made them forget about their homophobia," she says.
Happy endings
The conclusion leaves much room for reflection, making varied interpretations inevitable. "Of course, I leave it up to the viewer to make his or her own ending for it. The transition from black and white to color might mean embracing a more colorful life of trials for me, but there are no right or wrong answers for it," says Bernardo.
After sharing that her personal experiences were also translated into the film, Bernardo leaves one wondering whether or not to ask the question that's been hanging in the air since lesbianism was brought up. To this, she simply replies, "Does it matter?"
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