The filmmaker Jewel Maranan discusses her documentary In the Claws of a Century Wanting, (screening at DOXA on Monday, 06 May 2019) a film exploring many themes including poverty in the Philippines, colonialism, globalisation, and more, with Joseph Planta.

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

One of the more evocative documentaries to screen at DOXA, the Documentary Film Festival next week is In the Claws of a Century Wanting. The filmmaker Jewel Maranan, who joins me now, looks at the changing landscape in Manila’s Tondo, the location of the Port of Manila, the largest and busiest port in The Philippines. Her film follows the lives of the women, children and men who barely subsist, not to mention haven’t got the education or healthcare they require. Then as the area in which they live is set to be the site of port expansion, these families will have to be displaced. Naturally, they’re critical of this forced resettlement, and what follows is the fascinating navigation of bureaucracy, mistrust, uncertainty, and institutionalised poverty. What Ms. Maranan has also done in this film is look at the themes of politics, colonialism and religion and how they have so saddled this generation with the past, and perhaps a subsequent generation. Jewel Maranan is an independent documentary filmmaker and producer. She is the founder of Cinema is Incomplete, an alternative film production and distribution company based in the Philippines. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines Film Institute, and the travelling school of DocNomads in Lisbon, Budapest, and Brussels. The film screens Monday, 06 May 2019 at the Cinematheque, 1131 Howe Street in Vancouver, at 6.00pm. Jewel Maranan will be in attendance and will participate in a post-screening conversation with Vanessa Banta, a PhD candidate in Geography at UBC. Visit www.doxafestival.ca for tickets and information. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, from Manila earlier this week, Jewel Maranan; Ms. Maranan, good morning.