Organizer: Maysles Documentary Center
Type/Location: In Person / New York, NY
Description:
The New York community is invited to two special screenings of 58th, an acclaimed animated documentary by Filipino filmmaker Carl Joseph E. Papa, currently campaigning for Oscar consideration in the Best Documentary Feature category. Screenings will take place on November 2 and 3, each followed by a special Q&A with the filmmaker.
Through a powerful combination of rotoscope animation, archival footage, and personal testimony, the film revisits the tragic 2009 Maguindanao (Ampatuan) Massacre, in which 58 people, including 32 journalists, were killed in one of the deadliest attacks on members of the press in history.
The film has received international recognition, including screenings at the Rotterdam Film Festival and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and brings renewed attention to an important chapter in Philippine history and the ongoing pursuit of justice and accountability.
About the Film:
A moving account of the horrific 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines, approached from a personal angle. Nenen is the daughter of a photojournalist whose corpse was never found – so his death is officially unacknowledged. Carl Joseph E. Papa uses animation to transform the documentary material.
In 2009 Esmael Mangudadatu, a progressive political candidate in the Philippines, sent his wife and a team of journalists to the town of Maguindanao to file his application to become Governor. Everyone in the convoy was brutally slaughtered by forces directed by the powerful Ampatuan family, which was allied to the oppressive Arroyo government. 58th retells this tragic tale through the memories of the daughter of a photojournalist nicknamed Bebot, and her tireless campaign to find proof and seek official acknowledgement of her father’s death in the massacre. Even though justice was partly served by the courts in 2020, Bebot’s absence from the historical record continues to haunt his family.
Yet this is by no means a conventional documentary. While making extensive use of TV newsreel footage, Carl Joseph Papa (The Missing, IFFR 2024) transforms his accumulated research (including Skype interviews) into animation, allowing him to dramatize unrecorded events. Most touchingly, this creative approach opens the door to lyrical imagining of times past, present and future.
– Adrian Martin
About the Filmmaker:
Carl Joseph E. Papa is a Filipino filmmaker and animator. His films employ rotoscoping and unique animation techniques to explore the country's social and personal conflicts. His animated films have been screened at film festivals, and pioneered top honors during his lifetime including black tragicomedy Manang Biring (2015) and musical comedy-drama Paglisan (2018), both of which won him Best Film twice at Cinema One Originals Film Festival. His psychological drama science-fiction Iti Mapukpukaw (2023) won the Best Film at the 19th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. His recent film, 58th, was premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Registration:
To attend the event in person, please email counterseatculture@gmail.com to register by Friday, October 30th.
This screening is open to the community, but seating is limited. We encourage attendees to arrive early.
Advance registration and a valid photo ID are required for entry. Because seating is limited and venue security requires it, we will admit only guests whose names appear on the registration list.
For accessibility information or accommodation requests, please contact accessibility@maysles.org.