Bontoc Eulogy

director: Marlon Fuentes

original title: Bontoc Eulogy

year: 1995

running time: 57 min.

synopsis

In this groundbreaking autoethnographic documentary, which embeds authorʼs own life story in the wider cultural, social and political context, the director Marlon E. Fuentes researches his own ancestry. His research takes him to St. Louis World Fair in 1904, where his grandfather was displayed as a part of the Philippine exhibition. The Philippine exhibition was particularly popular with visitors at the end of the Philippine-American war, because it justified the invasion of the Philippines by the American army, supposedly on the mission to spread civilization. Using a combination of documentary and quasi-documentary footage, Fuentes emphasizes that archival materials, considered to be an objective recording of the facts, can easily be misused for ideological purposes.

biography

Marlon E. Fuentes (* 1954) is a Filipino media artist, photographer and filmmaker. He studied anthropology and behavioral science in Manila and after graduating in 1981, he continued studying photography at The Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles. His films include B.E.A.T. (1992), Sleep with Open Eyes (1992), Crickee (1993) and Arm (1994). A characteristic feature of his works is merging the genres of autoetnography and historical essay.

more about film

director:	Marlon Fuentes
producer:	Marlon Fuentes

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