MIX-MIX
a film by Sally Cloninger
MIX-MIX (HALO-HALO) is a Filipino dessert, a memoir, a treatise on global feminism and misogyny, and a coming out story. My film travels from the back lanes of San Pedro and Biñan, Laguna in the Philippines, to the Quezon City TV studio used by the Women’s Media Circle for their ground-breaking feminist show, to a workshop where I first talk about “lesbian seeing” as a strategy, to Subic Bay where I explore the realities of coming out as a lesbian.
Like the dessert, it is experimental, complicated, a bit disturbing, layered, not for everyone, but ultimately, refreshing. With my cast I also realized that halo-halo, the dessert could be a metaphor or a strategy for experimental/personal filmmaking, especially this one.
It was shot in the Philippines over a period of three decades (16mm film, Hi-8 and 3/4" video). All production crew and subjects of MIX-MIX are women. (23 minutes, 2018. Available in DCP, .mov and h264.)
PRODUCTION STILLS.1
Anna Leah Sarabia, Women's Media Circle.2
Jeepney ride on the way to Baguio.3
Tricycle, Biñan, Laguna.4
Sally Cloninger, Jeepney ride.5
Dancer, Manila.6
Nicola Joseph, Womanwatch Channel 4, Manila.7
Evening in San Pedro, Laguna. 8
Nikki Coseteng, Host of Womanwatch.9
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Sally CLONINGER: I am an experimental filmmaker and feminist media activist. My film and video work spans many genres including experimental autobiography, performance media, video installation, and visual anthropology. I have exhibited my films internationally and have worked in Asia, training women from Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Iran, the Maldives, and Pakistan, and to produce documentaries about women’s issues. Support for my work has included the U.S. Fulbright Program, the Asia Foundation, the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcast Development, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Artist Trust (Seattle). Visit my Vimeo page to screen MIX-MIX and other work.