Full Description
This collective work brings together contributions from academic researchers and film critics who offer analyses of the singular aesthetics of Filipino filmmaker, Lav Diaz's cinema.
The cinematographic work of Lav Diaz is steeped in the hopes and suffering of a people exposed to both state violence and the climatic cataclysms that regularly devastate the archipelago. A diary of the filming of Essential Truths of the Lake (2023), as well as previously unpublished interviews and masterclasses, take us to the heart of Lav Diaz's singular creative process, rooted in time and organically confronting places and their inhabitants. His characteristically lengthy films tie in with the destinies of opponents, of the marginalised and the disenfranchised. Confronting history and the tragic consequences of successive colonisations, encouraging resistance, reviving progressively forgotten animist practices, restoring the dignity of those who disappeared: Lav Diaz's cinematic frescoes stand up against silence, amnesia and repression.
This volume is perfect for students and scholars alike interested in Asian cinema, film critique and the work of Lav Diaz.
Contents
1. Introduction Part 1: Violent stories, resurgent history 2. Lav Diaz, The Possibility of a People? 3. Allegoric Forms of History in Three Films by Lav Diaz 4. About Servando Magdamag, Lino Brocka and melodrama. A dialogue with Mac Alejandre and Ricardo Lee 5. The Need for melodrama Part 2: Devastated Lands, Ritualised Lands 6. "There is No There There" 7. The Agony and the Ecstasy: Fragments of discussions between Lav Diaz and Alexander Tioseco on Death in the Land of Encantos 8. Existing in the Aftermath: A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery and From What Is Before 9. On From What Is Before. A dialogue with Lav Diaz and Hazel Orencio 10. A Creature May Hide Another Part 3: Wounds 11. Cruelty, Perpetual Undertow 12. Shooting Season of the Devil. A dialogue with Lav Diaz and Hazel Orencio 13. Caring about the World Part 4: Acts of Creation 14. Facing the Volcano. A Production Diary 15. About Bazin. A Conversation Between Lav Diaz and Hervé Joubert-Laurencin 16. Unfolding, Happening, Arising. About Lav Diaz's Situation-Shots
