Film has always been a wonderful medium to escape into the world of art. As we watch movies, we get lost in the world set before us by the director and the writers. Slowly we find ourselves transported, becoming one with the protagonists portrayed on the screen. Often a great movie will even transcend the viewing experience, leaving us with a new profound sense of our surroundings as we take in whatever we learned from the film.

This year, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, through the different programs under its Film, Broadcast, and New Media Division (CCP FBNMD), hopes to provide this very experience for eager viewers. The best part of it all is it’s all for free.

The fun began on Nov. 23 with a screening of War Sailor and The Voyage of the Balangay. The screening was done in partnership with the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the Government System Insurance Services (GSIS). 

War Sailor is a film directed by Gunnar Vikene, who is known for vibrant, warm stories. It follows the story of a sailor named Alfred who is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when World War II breaks out. Considered an epic slow-burn film, it centers around themes of survival as Alfred tries to make it back to his family. 

Meanwhile, The Voyage of the Balangay is a documentary directed by Minda Monica Ponce-Rodriguez and produced by Kaya Ng Pinoy Foundation, Butuan Global Forum, TAO Corporation, and Petix Productions. It premiered during the Cinemalaya Film Festival in 2014. It tells the story of a group of Filipino adventurers who embarked on a 17-month voyage, retracing our ancestors’ migration across oceans using the native balangay. Faithfully built with ancient craftsmanship, they navigated by the sun, stars, wind, clouds, waves, and bird migrations, covering the Philippine shores and seven Southeast Asian countries. 

Coming up this Nov. 30, the next installment for CCP’s Cinema Under the Stars (CUTS) program presents Auraeus Solito’s PISAY and Mike Sandejas and Robert Seña’s Wat Floor Ma’am? 

PISAY centers around eight teenagers in the country’s premier science high school who discover themselves as they go through the joys and pains of adolescence amid the chaos of the Marcos dictatorship in the 1980s. 

Wat Floor Ma’am? tells the story of a flamboyant former First Lady of the Philippines and a “Bad Boy” actor who find themselves trapped inside the elevator of an old government building. While waiting to be rescued, the First Lady emotionally reveals to him the shocking secret history of the Philippines. The screenings will be held at the LYF hotel roof deck in Malate, Manila. 

Finally, on Dec. 7, the CCP Arthouse Cinema sheds light on the fight for human rights with a special screening of Maria at the FEU mini-auditorium. Directed by She Andes, the documentary follows three women named Maria after the bloodbath of Duterte’s drug war. Its screening marks the 75th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights.

Culturalcenter.gov.ph