AI Strategist | Author, AEIOU Ethos: A Framework for Responsible AI | Human-Centered AI Adoption for Teams & Institutions
This article is adapted from a reflection I submitted for the Canvas Certified Educator (CCE) program, where I’m currently enrolled. As part of the program, I was tasked with designing a lesson that demonstrates technology integration—specifically how digital tools can enhance student learning and engagement. Staying true to my passion for leveraging thoughtful technology in…
In the evolving landscape of creativity, human-AI collaboration has become an empowering force, reshaping how we approach the art of storytelling. The journey of creating Study 25: The Ferry Docking, an experimental documentary short film in my ongoing Life-world Series, illustrates how technology and human insight can merge to create something reflective and unique. This…
Study 25: The Ferry Docking forms part of my Life-world Series, a project that began as an exploration within my Ph.D. dissertation. This series seeks to highlight the Lebenswelt—the immediate and lived world—by transforming everyday experiences into subjects of quiet contemplation. Each film in the series, including Study 25, is an invitation to pause, observe,…
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape industries, education is no exception. In the realm of film studies—particularly in courses like Film 100: Introduction to Film and Film 103: History of World Cinema—AI has the potential to revolutionize how students learn, analyze, and engage with cinema. But the burning question remains: Will AI replace the…
As a former faculty member at the University of the Philippines Film Institute, I designed courses that explore the formal, historical, and cultural dimensions of cinema. In this post, I’m sharing two sample syllabi: Film 100: Introduction to Film and Film 103: History of World Cinema. Film 100 introduces students to the fundamental elements of…
The documentary has always been an engaging genre and artistic practice for me. In this post, I present definitions, characteristics, and seminal examples of poetic, avant-garde, and experimental documentary films as well as my own cinematic works to illustrate the discussion.
Five characteristics of the phenomenalist-realist film were identified by Ian Aitken in The Major Realist Film Theorists: A Critical Anthology (2016) : (1) perceptually realistic; (2) disinterested; (3) nature-like; (4) feeling-oriented; and (5) flowing. In the current essay, I flesh out each of these attributes by expounding on their philosophical influences – particularly Kantian aesthetics…
Seven tropes from the realist film theory of Siegfried Kracauer are presented in this essay. Selected works from world cinema re used to illustrate the discussion.
This essay describes the realist film theory of Siegfried Kracauer and employs two notions of cinematic realism – the refuse and the transient – in discussing Lino Brocka’s Weighed but Found Wanting (1974), Three Two One (1974), Manila in the Claws of Light (1975), Insiang (1976), Bona (1980), Clutching a Knife (1985), and I Carry…
The mothers in the films of Lino Brocka – a veritable auteur who used film as his medium in expressing his insights through his works from 1970 to 1991 – gravitate towards two clusters of images: 1) the mothers who struggle within the confines of their role; and 2) the mothers who question their role…
Brocka’s films from 1970 to 1982 generally belong to the first cluster of images. Here, Brocka’s familiarity and affinity with the types of mothers as portrayed by the earlier studio films, popular literature, and “komiks” (serialized graphic novels) are manifested. Within this cluster, the following images are identified and fleshed out: (1) the “ideal” mother;…
As Lino Brocka became more politicized as an artist, he was able to flesh out more progressive characterizations, narratives, and resultant images of the mothers which belong to the second cluster, namely: (1) mother as transgressor, and (2) mother as aggressor of patriarchy.
Investigating Kracauerian Cinematic Realism through Film Practice and Criticism: Life-world Series (2017) and Selected Films of Lino Brocka Note: This is an excerpt from my PhD dissertation, Investigating Kracauerian Cinematic Realism through Film Practice and Criticism: Life-world Series (2017) and Selected Films of Lino Brocka (2018). In 2020, my book chapter — Cinematic Contemplation Online:…
Siegfried Kracauer was ‘as much a social scientist as a film theorist’ (Armstrong, 2007, p. 62). This is evident not just in Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality (Kracauer, 1960) but also in his (1) articles and reviews as a ‘practical film critic of the Frankfurter Zeitung’ (Petro, 1991, p. 131) of the…