At Home sa Abroad: Navigating the int’l film industry as a Filipino woman

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino women all over the world have proven time and again how they are a force to be reckoned with. The first Filipino Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Ressa, is a woman. The country’s first Olympic gold medalist, Hidilyn Diaz, is a woman.

In the film industry, Dolly de Leon became the first Filipino to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the Golden Globes, among a string of many other world-stage achievements. Filipinos in film roles are in a unique position to tell stories the Filipino way, whether they are behind or in front of the camera.

As Women’s Month comes to a close, Rappler features Michele Josue, an Emmy award-winning Filipino-American documentary filmmaker based in Los Angeles.

Her feature debut, Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine, which tells the story of a gay student who falls victim to a hate crime, won 10 Best Documentary and audience awards from festivals worldwide. She also has a documentary on Netflix, Happy Jail, which features the stories of the “dancing inmates” of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, and the controversial management of a former convict of the facility’s operations.

One of her latest works, Nurse Unseen, tells the stories of the unsung Filipino nurses who risked their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Watch as Josue talks about why she chooses voices often unheard as her documentary subjects in At Home sa Abroad: Stories of Overseas Filipinos, hosted by Rappler multimedia reporter Michelle Abad.

The episode airs on Rappler on Monday, March 27, at 7 pm.

At Home sa Abroad: Stories of Overseas Filipinos is Rappler’s one-stop video podcast for all things Filipino diaspora. – Rappler.com

Watch other At Home sa Abroad episodes:

• What OFWs expect from new Department of Migrant Workers
• How this leadership program helped Fil-Ams connect with their roots
• How is the local economic crisis affecting OFWs?
• Inside a migration reporter’s notebook
• The Filipino diaspora through a migrant’s eyes
• Is exporting Filipino workers a good thing?
• How this Gen Z couple is making their LDR work
• Tales of Martial Law, People Power from migrant Filipinos
• The plight of overseas Filipino women