Documentaries are essential for our community.  There are certainly a number of good films that document the Filipino and Filipino American experience – Delano Manongs, The Fall of the I-Hotel, Imelda, The Learning, Bontoc Eulogy, to name a few.  These films are so important in spreading awareness of our people’s history and culture and keeping our stories alive.  Without them, we will be further doomed to ignorance and irrelevance.  But how does one begin to make a documentary?

In this episode of TFAL, the crew interviews award-winning filmmaker, Marissa Aroy.  Listen as we discuss her journey into making film documentaries, her passion for the Filipino American community, the rise of mini-docs, and what it’s like to be a woman of color in the largely white, male film documentary industry.  The crew also talks documentaries, their favorites, and the documentary films they would make if they were actually filmmakers…and had the money!

Listen through the embedded player below, download directly here or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts here. For folks who are on Spotify, you can take a listen to us here.

Do you have any great ideas for Filipino/Filipino American documentaries?  Let us know your thoughts, (805) 394-TFAL or thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

Also, to support Marissa Aroy’s latest film project on the Philippine American War (very very needed!), go her this link here.