Rice: ASEAN Stories, Weaving Tales
In line with the Philippines’ title as ASEAN Culture Capital, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Organization of Area Studies Majors in UP Manila presented the film “Rice” made up of different stories from the member countries produced by various filmmakers. The film-showing was held last Thursday at the UP-PGH Science Hall with an audience comprised of students from universities and colleges in Manila.
The independent films were the result of an ASEAN-ROK collaboration. With rice as a staple food in the region, it served as the weaving element for the social issues featured in each country. For instance, the first story tacked the problem of land ownership. A child, after witnessing how they are driven out of their abode, refused to eat dinner. She asked: “When will I be able to eat again?” While for Thailand, prostitution and deep mother-daughter relationships were portrayed. After a very young lady decided to engage in prostitution herself, the experience of eating rice with her mother was never the same. In “Rice,” the nurturing values and close family ties of people in the ASEAN warmed the heart.
I hope that copies of this film will be circulated more widely. And as I’ve heard from the president of the Organization of Area Studies Majors, they are planning to show the film again and invite more people.
The independent films were the result of an ASEAN-ROK collaboration. With rice as a staple food in the region, it served as the weaving element for the social issues featured in each country. For instance, the first story tacked the problem of land ownership. A child, after witnessing how they are driven out of their abode, refused to eat dinner. She asked: “When will I be able to eat again?” While for Thailand, prostitution and deep mother-daughter relationships were portrayed. After a very young lady decided to engage in prostitution herself, the experience of eating rice with her mother was never the same. In “Rice,” the nurturing values and close family ties of people in the ASEAN warmed the heart.
I hope that copies of this film will be circulated more widely. And as I’ve heard from the president of the Organization of Area Studies Majors, they are planning to show the film again and invite more people.
