Eileen Cabiling’s ‘Basurero’ starring Jericho Rosales is being showcased in American film festivals.
Starring Filipino film and television leading man Jericho “Echo” Rosales (Alagwa, Baler, Siargao) as “Bong,” the poetic, neo-realist, short film plunges viewers into the complex world of a Filipino fisherman who finds himself embroiled in a dangerous undertaking.
Basurero marks the directorial debut of Filipina-American filmmaker Eileen Cabiling, who also penned the original short screenplay.
The film is a fictional expose inspired by actual events and a story anonymously related to Al Jazeera by Filipino fishermen, who told of widespread human rights abuses among the nation’s most vulnerable. Rather than serving audiences a high-octane expose of the violence, Cabiling renders a more nuanced portrait, taking viewers inside the psychology of a man trapped by impossible circumstances.
Says Cabiling, “What attracts me most to Bong’s story is not just the inhumane politics and the vilification and killings of drug users, sellers and the poor in the Philippines, but also how this character’s circumstances are a window into the complex Filipino psyche’s search for value in the world.”
Basurero, which made its critically acclaimed world debut in competition at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival in South Korea in 2019 – where it was called a “must watch” by Asian Movie Pulse – is continuing its successful festival run at the 43rd Annual Asian American International Film Festival and at the 36th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), proudly known as “The First Home to Asian American Cinema”—which will be held online this year from October 1-11, 2020 – is the first and longest-running festival dedicated to showcasing the moving image work by media artists of Asian descent for and about the Asian diaspora experience.
For more information on screenings of Basurero in the Shorts Program in the Moment go here.
The premier showcase for the best and brightest of Asian Pacific American and international cinema, the Los Angeles-based Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival will run online September 24—October 31, featuring an exciting lineup of productions by Asian American and Pacific Islander artists from around the globe.
For more information on screenings of Basurero being showcased Oct. 1-31 in the Short Program Windows go here.
Basurero is in collaboration with Globe Studios with Quark Henares and Jan Pineda as attached Executive Producers. Directed and written by Eileen Cabiling, Director of Photography is Jae-Hyuk Lee (Lighting Director, Okja, Black Panther—Korean unit). Produced by Eileen Cabiling, Darlene Catly Malimas, Philippines (Aparisyon, Lingua Franca), Sascha Brown Rice, U.S. (California State of Mind, Mango Kiss), Jose C. Mangual (How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer) and Eva Husson (Girls of the Sun, Bang Gang). Co-produced by Jericho Rosales.
A Lucena Films and DCM Autodidact Films production in association with Fire of Life Films, Eclipse Production, Jen Lighting Company, Bullet Manila, Globe Studios, Contagious Inc., G-Ward Production, Wapak Sound and Monoxide Works. Basurero was shot in the urban fishing port and village of Cavite City and in Metro Manila.
Basurero has also been an official selection in the 2020 Active Vista International Human Rights Festival – Philippines, Tampere Film Festival, Fribourg International Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Sun Valley Film Festival, Cinemalaya Philippine International Film Festival, Minikino Film Week – Bali International Short Film Festival, and the Busan Film Festival.
WATCH the trailer here and SEND CHEERS in the comments below to Eileen Cabiling’s ‘Basurero’ starring Jericho Rosales for being showcased in American film festivals.
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