Over the past year or so, I have worked on my second feature-length documentary as an editor, This is our Everything (directed by Frederik Subei).
It has been an intense creative journey with this film and I am incredibly happy that it is now out there in the world. We celebrated the world premiere on September 30 at FILMFEST HAMBURG and will have our international premiere at WATCH DOCS Festival in Warsaw in early December, where the film is nominated in the green competition.
We’re looking forward to many more screenings and discussions of this film and are grateful for the energy we felt from the audiences so far.
For the past year, I’ve been editing and helped to produce This is our Everything, directed by Frederik Subei.
More on the film and my creative process soon – for now, here’s the film summary: The Guajajara people decide not to stand idly by while their land and that of the uncontacted Awá people is being destroyed. They put together a group of forest guardians who are determined to defend the Amazon rainforest — if necessary with their own lives.
Swiss NGO GREEN BOOTS has kindly offered to support the last remaining post-production tasks for the film with a fundraising call. Donations for the project are possible until January 15 and every incoming donation will be doubled by GREEN BOOTS!
A war between government and ISIS-affiliated jihadists forced hundreds of thousands to flee from Marawi, Philippines. After the battle, residents struggle to rebuild their homes and lives in a deformed city. The film accompanies its protagonists for two years through fear, worry, and hope, towards a new beginning on their long journey.
Selected screenings and awards:
(2020) DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, South Korea
(2020) Golden Hercules Award, Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Germany
(2020) Ethnocineca Documentary Festival, Austria
(2020) DaangDokyu Festival of Philippine Documentaries, Philippines
(2021) Best Documentary – Winner, Mimesis Documentary Film Festival, USA
(2021) Cinemalaya, Philippines
(2021) Religion Today Festival, Italy
(2021) NAFA International Ethnographic Film Festival, Portugal
(2021) Filmfestival Kitzbuhel, Austria
(2021) Pinakamahusay na Dokyumentaryo – Nominee, Gawad Urian, Philippines
Happy to announce that A House in Pieces (Philippines/Germany 2020) which I co-directed with Jean Claire Dy has won the Golden Hercules awards at Kassel Dokfest and Best Documentary Award at Mimesis Documentary Festival.
We’re grateful to the juries for truly “seeing” our film, and here’s some of what they had to say:
“In a documentary that is just as moving as it is magnificent in technical design, the filmmakers show us the people who had to deal with the act of terrosim and its consequences. Precisely through the unagitated, unsentimental narrative style, we feel the fear of protagonist Yusop, attempts a new beginning within eyeshot of the city centre, but nonetheless gets stuck given the overpowering finality of the destruction. ‘As long as you treat them well, they will always return’ says Yusop about his doves. The film leaves us with an immediate mixture of empathy for its protagonists and a deep grief given their difficult situation.”(Kassel Dokfest Jury)
There is an obvious gracefulness to this film –nothing awkward or forced in the photography or storytelling, and the most deeply touching moments seemed to be picked up out of thin air and handled so lightly in the editing. The filmmakers were able to focus on the larger narrative of violence and tragic loss without neglecting the smaller, mundane moments through which this traumatic experience is expressed in individual lives. (Mimesis Features Jury)
