Director's Statement

 

It’s a halo halo. It’s a mixture of what “is” at different times, at different places. Put them all together and it’s a treat, a visual treat. It speaks to you.

Gel Sangalang, 2016   

 

I first visited the Philippines when I was an exchange student at age sixteen. Years have intervened since then. The footage for MIX-MIX (HALO-HALO) was shot in numerous formats and under many different circumstances.  First, I returned with a 16mm camera to shoot a film about Biñan, Laguna and had an unexpected reunion with a young woman who unknown to her had an impact on my life in a very significant way. Later my work as a media activist brought me back to Manila many times and I always carried  some kind of camera to document personal aspects of these trips. In 2016 I knew I wanted to make a film about my experiences in the Philippines including invitations to present a conference paper on media ethics and the treatment of rape, to design a workshop on lesbian representation in television (a first for the Philippines), and to do some training of an all-women crew in basic multi-camera production for a new show on national television that would explore contemporary and controversial issues relevant to young Filipinas.

 

In the past two years all of us have experienced some very troubling times:  instances of  problematic media representation, breaches of ethics, proliferations of stereotyping, violence and cruelty toward disenfranchised members of our communities, and rampant misogyny in both the political and personal arena. These times have motivated the point of view and content of  MIX-MIX and also reminded me that all the work so many of us did in the later part of the 20th century with regard to gender and representation must be done again, and with significantly more self-examination.

 

MIX-MIX travels from the back lanes of San Pedro and Biñan, Laguna to the Quezon City TV studio used by 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 interview Anna Leah Sarabia about the realities of coming out as a lesbian. Together Anna Leah and I also realized that halo-halo, the dessert could be a metaphor or a strategy for experimental/personal filmmaking, especially this one.

 

When you’re using halo-halo you put together combined individual or separate elements but you’re also trying to come out with a new result that doesn’t destroy all of the ingredients but combines them in a way that makes everything alive.

Anna Leah Sarabia, 2016

 

Sally Cloninger, 2018