VC Connect #7: HOWZIT!
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Welcome to VC CONNECT, an online destination through which just some of the hundreds of films and media productions created by Visual Communications can be found for your enjoyment. Featured films include some of our VC Classics, as well as films made in the Digital Histories production program for older adults and the Armed With a Camera Fellowship for Emerging Artists. Each week, we’ll roll out a new batch, specially themed for our audience’s diverse cinematic palate. Click here to watch the complete showcase.
This is the last release as part of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Virtual Showcase in May. The LAAPFF Virtual Showcase aims to highlight artists whose stories are critical at this moment. From celebrating our histories and cultures, to mobilizing our communities to be socially and politically active, we are looking forward to presenting FREE films and panels to keep us connected.
HOWZIT!
Linda Mabalot was the beloved Executive Director of Visual Communications from the mid-’80s until her passing in 2003. She guided VC through a most difficult and challenging time when the organization was focused on survival and still committed to serving and continuing Asian Pacific American media projects. Linda’s resilience, political savvy, and commitment to multicultural collaboration served her and VC well. She was creative, spontaneous, and had a generously inclusive nature with an infectious laugh, which helped her staff confront the challenges and survive a difficult time. Today, the staff is still propelled by the vision and foresight brought to the organization by this widely admired, one-of-a-kind leader. On Monday, May 18, 2020 at 6 pm PT, join us for a special Monday Nite VC presentation as we remember Linda, her projects, and discuss her long lasting impact. Click here to learn more.
MANONG (1978) by Linda Mabalot
The manong were the first wave of Filipinos who came to the United States to find work. MANONG dramatically portrays their lives as captured in the writings of Carlos Bulosan, unveiling the manongs‘ contribution to America’s agricultural and service industries and the struggle to build a Filipino community. MANONG tells the stories of their decades in the farmland and canneries on the West Coast and the effects of the bachelor society that lingers today.
YOU STILL CAN HEAR ME SINGING (1978) by Antonio De Castro and Linda Mabalot
Produced as a companion piece to the Philippine Hunger Project, this film examines the devastating effects of the root causes of hunger in Negros Occidental, Philippines caused by the monopolization of the island’s sole source of economic support — its sugar industry. Interviews with local politicians and academics are contrasted with images of the decimation of local staple industries that provide a crucial and, in many cases, sole source of income for families living at or near the poverty line.
APSU: EDUCATION AS A RIGHT (1988) by Linda Mabalot and Stann Nakazono
Produced to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the statewide Asian Pacific Student Union (APSU), this film observes the rise of a new generation of Asian Pacific American student activists in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1978 Bakke Decision. Interviews with founders and activists involved with APSU members, former student activists, educators, and local and national politicians paint the portrait of the next generation of Asian Pacific American activists and how grassroots activists began the long process towards empowerment and full participation in America’s social, cultural, and political processes.
The Making of QUIET THUNDER by Walt Louie
Inspired by the book America is in the Heart, Linda Mabalot and Visual Communications undertook the enormous effort of producing a feature narrative, QUIET THUNDER, based on the experiences of Carlos Bulosan and the many Filipino farmworkers he represented.
