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,…
Sounds made by a winter storm at night are presented in this film together with footage taken in the vicinity before sunset.
My personal tribute to the Cedar River Trail (Washington State, USA), which has helped me stay sane and grounded during the pandemic — shot using iPhone 8.
9 min, 47 s || experimental film / installation art piece Somewhere in the North American Pacific Northwest region, the late afternoon sun casts its shadows on a banig, a handwoven mat from the Philippines. This short film renders that moment, together with live sound recorded along the nearby Cedar River.
Cinematographer (Director of Photography): Joni Gutierrez
Came across this short film that I shot on miniDV 13 years ago
Wildfire smoke has reached home. Shot in Renton, WA, USA
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.
Born and raised in Manila, I moved to Hong Kong in 2013 to pursue my PhD studies in Communication and Film. I earned the degree in 2018 and even though I have since then immigrated here in the USA, I still consider Hong Kong home. In this post, I share five short films that I…
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:…
The first public screening of the film was at the Hong Kong Baptist University on 7 April 2017 in an event organized by the Centre for Film and Moving Image Research (FMIR) of the Academy of Film. In this lecture-seminar, I talked about Life-world Series (2017) in terms of phenomenalist-realist film aesthetics.
