‘The Man Who Isn’t There and Other Stories of Longing’: Candid sadness

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then the camera is our looking glass. In Trishtan Perez’s The Man Who Isn’t There and Other Stories of Longing, that point is made most apparent.

Following a spate of photo booth patrons, the film is told from the perspective of a stationary camera, capturing everything from discreet love affairs, familial estrangement, and other self-discoveries. Through its unsuspecting lens, the camera casts a view of these people’s shared longing, a kinship that can be extended to us, viewers, who are watching from behind the camera.

The Man Who Isn’t There and Other Stories Of Longing won Best Experimental Work at the 2019 .giff Festival of New Cinema, earned Special Citation at the 5th Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino, and screened at the 2020 SeaShorts Film Festival in Malaysia.

The film’s director, Trishtan Perez, won Best Director at the Black Beret: UPFI Undergrad Students Showcase. Perez directed this year’s i get so sad sometimes, named Best Picture at the 2021 QCinema International Film Festival. He hopes to develop his first feature film project soon with a movie set in his hometown in Mindanao.

For more Filipino short films, watch Si Astri maka si Tambulah and Contestant #4 on Act One. – Rappler.com

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