Daily Tribune‘Babae Ako, Hindi Babae Lang: Director and Editor Edition’ encourages aspiring film professionals to pursue creative careers in Philippine cinema, as well as discuss the joys and challenges being women in this field
Documentary filmmaker Pabelle Manikan
Film editor Ilsa Malsi
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DLSU-CSB
As part of the celebration of International Women’s Month, renowned independent documentary director Pabelle Manikan and award-winning editor Ilsa Malsi will conduct a forum to share their inspiring journeys as female filmmakers in the industry.
“Babae Ako, Hindi Babae Lang: Director and Editor Edition” encourages aspiring film professionals to pursue creative careers in Philippine cinema, as well as discuss the joys and challenges being women in this field. This project is organized by the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s School of New Media Arts Film Program. It is under the Women’s Cinema class of senior faculty member and Digital Filmmaking Department administrator Rianne Hill Soriano.
Manikan is known for her first full-length documentary Dreaming in the Red Light (2019), an intimate story about the life of a former prostitute and her half-German daughter in the red-light district of Angeles City. It was co-produced between the Philippines and France, and has been screened in Europe, the US, and Southeast Asia. She likewise edited a number of documentaries which have won accolades at the Busan International Film Festival, Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences, and QCinema International Film Festival. She was the cinematographer and editor of indigenous-focused movie Tumandok (2024). Her other notable works include Brownout Capital (2024) and Bukang Liwayway (2013).
At the 43rd Gawad Urian, Malsi garnered Best Editing award for Babae at Baril (2019), a psycho-thriller on a fed-up department store saleslady who discovered the power of owning a gun. She bagged the same recognition for Rookie (2023) at the 19th Cinemalaya: Philippine Independent Film Festival, and Never Tear Us Apart (2018) at the 14th Cinema One Originals Film Festival. She has edited Sleep with Me (2022), Alone/Together (2019), Billie & Emma (2018), and Gusto Kita with All My Hypothalamus (2018).
Some of the speakers’ early works, including their short films, will be screened during the event.
Student filmmakers, cinephiles, women filmmakers, and feminists are invited to attend the roundtable, which is scheduled for 14 March, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Screening Room, 12th floor of the Benilde Design + Arts Campus. The forum is open to the general public for free. Pre-registration is required. For more details, visit facebook.com/BenildeFilm.
