Focus Program of TIDF 2022 —— Necessary Fictions: Negotiating Realities in Post-national Philippine Documentaries

The 13th Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) invited Merv Espina, an independent curator from the Philippines, to co-curate Focus Program:Necessary Fictions: Negotiating Realities in Post-National Philippine Documentaries. The festival ran from May 6-15, 2022 with 46 screenings. There were 36 on-site screenings and 23 days of online screenings of three films. Six online Q&A discussions and master lectures and two online forums were also held. The collaborative project also published a dedicated brochure (printed) and a website with a chronological timeline of the political and social/film history of the Philippines from the 1980s to the present.

The focus section of the festival was divided into 11 sub-themes, with a total of 46 works dating from the 1980s to the present. It featured more than 30 creators, ranging in orientation from classic to absurd. It emphasized the personal touch and the variety of forms used by creators to portray what they see, hear, and think, presenting multiple guises that cannot be conceived as merely a “country”. History, culture, folklore, religion, ethnicity, and geography become meaningful and multifarious together with the passage of time. The tumultuous reality of the Philippines was revealed through the vibrant programs and events.