Engkwentro Screens in Iloilo via Active Vista Filmfest

The 2016 Active Vista International Human Rights Film Festival is being held this week, and Iloilo is part of this festival with the screening of the film by Pepe Diokno entitled "Engkwentro" which will be held at the Robinsons Movieworld Iloilo Cinema 2 this saturday February 27, 2016 2 PM. [hit the jump to continue]

In this film, Richard and Raymond are two teenage brothers. Richard is the leader of his gang, “Bagong Buwan,” while Raymond is just being inducted into rival gang, “Batang Dilim.” Complications arise at a deadly midnight engkwentro (square-off), when Raymond is given the task of killing his older brother. Meanwhile, the City Death Squad lurks the streets. This real-life vigilante group is allegedly backed by the city mayor and responsible for many unsolved murders of young gangsters. Today, they are hunting down Richard. Will they take the younger brother, too?

This films seeks to expose the effects of a ruthless political and legal system, supported by an oversimplistic outlook that becomes visible in the oppressive narrow alleyways of the district where Richard and Raymond grew up. Richard is the leader of one of the countless gangs in the country and is sought by the City Death Squad -­- a murdering vigilante group assigned to assassinate lawless elements of society, and one the government claims it doesn't support. The younger brother Raymond has meanwhile fallen prey to the attraction of another gang. With the dark, raw and very realistic Engkwentro (filmed without artificial light and with only one handheld camera) the director Pepe Diokno wants to attract attention for the distressing situation of crime, murder and executions, and the extremist approach in instilling justice. While it may be considered a controversial film that can easily be used as one-sided propaganda, it could also be used as a study in the extreme uses of punishment and justice.

The film is written and directed by Pepe Diokno and stars Felix Roco, Zyrus Desamparado, Daniel Medrana, Jim Libiran, and Celso Ad Castillo. The film has been acknowledged in the Venice Film Festival in 2009: Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentis” Award for Best Debut Film / Orizzonti Award - Best Film, Jeonju International Film Festival (2010): NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film, and the Gawad Urian in 2010 for Best Editing.

This screening is in partnership with Re:PubliKo, the World Youth Alliance, and the venue sponsor Robinsons Movieworld Iloilo. The Active Vista International Human Rights Film festival is organized by DAKILA and co-presented by the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the University of the Philippines Film Institute, Movies that Matter, and civil society organizations such as the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, the Ateneo Human Rights Center, the Alternative Law Groups, Metro Manila Pride and the Filipino Freethinkers.
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