Dialogues that dance is film trademark
PHILIPPINE NEWS.COM
Romina D. Saha, Mar 15, 2006
Rigodon
Sari Lluch Dalena and Keith Sicat, writers and directors
March 19
Kabuki 8 Theatres, San Francisco
24th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival

Sari Lluch Dalena and husband Keith Sicat are new parents nursing two babies: their six-month old son and their first feature film, Rigodon. The joke has often been repeated that both were conceived at about the same time, and delivered at about the same time. Dalena’s baby was barely a month old when the movie premiered at the 2005 Montreal World film Festival.
Parents never tire of fussing over their kids. Dalena and Sicat, true to form, have only just finished tweaking the film for its Bay Area showing, finalizing the sound and color and cutting it down by 10 more minutes. The proud parents show off their son and their movie around the film fest circuit. They were at the Cinemanila International last December. They are also set to stop in Fribourg, Switzerland for a European premiere before coming to San Francisco. They will also join the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
Dalena and Sicat are both products of creative and intellectual families—Dalena’s parents are painter Danny Dalena and sculptor Julie Lluch; Sicat’s parents are former economic planning minister Gerardo Sicat and University of the Philippines professor Loretta Makasiar. Dalena is a graduate film student at New York University where she is a Fulbright scholar. Sicat graduated from the University of Sussex in England, majoring in philosophy and literature, with a background in painting and photography. Not surprisingly, their work reflects that intellectual quality.

Rigodon—a word that refers to a traditional European group dance brought to the Philippines by the Spanish colonizers—in this film seems to refer to the precarious relationships between Filipino immigrants living in New York after 9/11, their ordinary struggles and everyday dreams, their loneliness and need for love, friendship, companionship, and the risks and compromises they are willing to take to survive.

The film, with its minimal dialogue, does not tell its story in the traditional, narrative manner. It is unapologetically arty, moving from scene to scene in a flow of colors and music that evoke emotions. Both Dalena and Sicat have a background in experimental films, experience they use in Rigodon without fear of offending critics or intimidating the audience.
“We are challenging the audience to a new form of storytelling,” says Dalena. “Films are a vehicle for self-expression.”
Sicat says he expects the audience, even the “masa,” to understand and appreciate Rigodon because he respects their intelligence. There is a “misguided delineation” between art and commercial movies, he says.
Rigodon, Dalena’s thesis project at NYU, is the couple’s first collaboration.
The couple’s commitment to their art, it seems, is beginning to pay off. Already they are working on their next project: another feature film to be produced by a major Philippine film studio. Interestingly, this studio, known for churning out commercial tear-jerker blockbusters, offered them the project after seeing Rigodon. Dalena and Sicat take this as a sign that the Philippine movie industry is indeed ready for filmmakers like them.

Dalena and Sicat are hard at work writing a treatment, talking out ideas, perhaps arguing some before agreeing, as has been their style. Their infant son keeps them company in their editing room and offices, no doubt absorbing all their creative energy to perhaps grow up with unconventional ideas like his parents.
“Every project is a passion project,” says Dalena. “We will treat it with a lot of independent spirit.”

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Going home, being gay depicted in Filipino films
PHILIPPINE NEWS.COM
Lance Cardozo Dwyer, Mar 22, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — Three Filipino films helped usher in the first weekend of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, including one full-length feature film and two short films.
Balikbayan Confessions, a film directed by Tina Bartolome, opened up Confessions of Longing—a series of short films at the Castro Theater on Saturday. Each film addressed Asian issues within a Queer/gay perspective.
Bartolome’s film documented the experiences of five lesbian FilAms on their trip to the Philippines. Each woman had her own reasons for making the trip as the film delves into each of their varying perspectives and histories.
For some, it was a first visit long overdue, for others, a long-awaited return. Yet for all of these young women, the Philippines represented “home.”

Darel Ayap, a peer educator at Asian and Pacific Wellness Center, one of the sponsors of the short film showcase, said the sentiment of the Philippines symbolizing “home” was especially touching.
As an immigrant to the United States, Ayap identified with how one woman in the film described her experience of immigration as being “traumatic.”

“The film made me realize that even though I haven’t been back in so long, I still talk about the Philippines as my home,” said Ayap. “When my family speaks of going back to the Philippines, we don’t call it a trip, I know I’m going home.”
Bartolome said the idea of FilAms traveling to the Philippines had always interested her and she had “wanted to document that experience but also to see how it influenced our whole identity. We had this really special situation with five queer Filipinas going to the Philippines together so I wanted to be able to express that experience.”
Balikbayan Confessions, conveys a sense of raw truth in its simple and unsophisticated design. Though the film is essentially an edited montage of home videos, its message still shines through,
Another FilAm film was Porcelain, directed by M.R Stiff. This film exposed the inner turmoil of a gay FilAm man struggling with his degradation as a fetish by white men. The actor acknowledges the painful reality that he is “only the flavor of the month” for his lovers.
The film is beautifully crafted with poignant cinematography and powerful narration. The actor effectively conveys his pain through the palpable vulnerability and confusion in his voice, as we see him move from lover to lover.
The film ends with the actor stating his frustration for wanting to feel understood. Though he expected to find it within the gay community, he finds that he is once again being pushed away.

Stiff is able to convey a complex and emotional story with exquisite brevity, as the entire film lasts only six minutes. Stiff ensured that every word, sound and image offered a significant piece to the story so as to pack hours of content into the equivalent length of one song.
The following day, Rigodon, directed by Sari Lluch Dalena and Keith Sicat, showed at Kabuki theater. The film was woven together through the concept of the European dance known as rigodon, for which the film gets its name.
The film tells the story of three Filipino immigrants living in New York as they struggle to survive in a post-9/11 U.S. The characters find that their new home has is becoming increasingly unkind to immigrants such as themselves, with INS serving as a constant pressure in their everyday lives.

The three main characters, Salome, Amado, and Dante each represent a different story of immigration, with each having gotten to the U.S. through different means and for different reasons.
Dalena and Sicat paint a powerful story that offers a valuable insight into the politics of immigration, while framing it within the personal struggles of three well-developed characters.