I just got home from a whole day stint at Gateway for the film fest. I guess this is one of the best pre-bday celebration I ever had. And I have to thank CEAE for the opportunity they gave me to help them even in a very small way. The staff and my co-volunteers are really awesome tenku tenku :)

Please, please if you haven't seen or heard MFF, try to visit Gateway tonight until Sunday, 21 August. There are a lot of great films out there and I had the chance to watch two, Legacy: Philippine World Herritage Sites by noted director Butch Nolasco and Children of the Mountains by Jukka Holapainen, the president of CEAE.

Legacy features the journey of famed conservation advocate Augusto Villalon to UNESCO heritage sites in the Philippines. It is an exhilarating journey that will take you to the depths of the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, the St. Paul Subterranean River at Puerto Princesa, the historic landmark in the North that is Vigan, the majestic Rice Terraces, and ends at the four Baroque churches that reflect Filipino culture and faith. Children of the Mountains tells the sad plight of the Dumagats who once lived abundantly, peacefully co-existing with wild flora and fauna the way their deities created them to be. They were once a dignified tribe who did not depend on anyone for their survival until the roads, chainsaws, and bulldozers came. Now, the Dumagats allowed themselves to be enslaved by the so-called civilized people to earn their living because the greedy corporations (who are in collusion with people from the government) took everything away from them: their dignity, their culture, even their lives.

These are films stripped off with glamour and big-named stars. These are real films depicting real people and real problems. I guess we shouldn't deny our children, especially ourselves, of this rare chance to breathe reality even for just a few hours.

Happy weekend.