Filipino women, specifically those engaged in the arts, have been an unstoppable force since time immemorial. From female National Artists (i.e. Marilou Diaz-Abaya, Nora Aunor, Edith Tiempo, Salvacion Lim-Higgins, Francisca Reyes Aquino, Alice Reyes, Leonor Orosa Goquingco, Lucrecia Reyes-Urtula, Agnes Locsin, Lucrecia Kasilag, Jovita Fuentes, Andrea Veneracion, Honorata “Atang” dela Rama, Fides Cuyugan-Asensio, Daisy Avellana, Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio) who made significant contributions to nation building and excelled in their respective fields, to today’s up-and-coming modern Filipina artists, they epitomize empowerment and gender equality.

In celebration of the National Women’s Month, the Cultural Center of the Philippines puts the spotlight on the treasured works by some of the best Filipino women filmmakers. Culled from CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts (CCP EPA), the country’s most authoritative and comprehensive source of arts and knowledge, here are some of must-watch classic films on women, for women, by women.

BRUTAL (1980)

Directed by National Artist Marilou Diaz-Abaya | Screenplay by National Artist Ricky Lee

Monica Real became a suspect of the murder of her own husband, Tato, and two other men. While in jail, she refuses to speak and withdraws herself from the world until Clara, a bold journalist, dives deeper into her case and discovers a grotesque truth.

Brutal is the first Filipino film to address gender-based violence as a feminist issue within the context of Philippine patriarchal society. It is the first of the trilogy of movies about women made by Diaz-Abaya and Lee.

MORAL (1982)

Directed by National Artist Marilou Diaz-Abaya | Screenplay by National Artist Ricky Lee

Joey, Maritess, Slyvia, and Kathy are best friends who are exploring their lives hand in hand until the resistant demands of their own individual lives get ahead of them. As they struggle and realize the risks that they need to take, the four women go their separate ways, each indulging in their newfound individuality.

KARNAL (1983)

Directed by National Artist Marilou Diaz-Abaya | Screenplay by National Artist Ricky Lee

A couple, Puring and Narcing, settled in his hometown where she met Gusting, Narcing’s father. Gusting immediately takes interest in Puring after finding similarity to his then dead wife, which eventually led to family tension and tragedy.

SALOME (1981)

Directed by Laurice Guillen | Screenplay by Ricky Lee

The film follows Salome, a married woman who fatally stabbed her persistent suitor. As the film progresses, three conflicting versions of the crime unfolds.

MILAGROS (1997)

Directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya | Screenplay by Rolando S. Tinio

A bar dancer who goes by Lagring has been hungry for her father’s love, but  things took a turn after she found out that her beloved father had died and left her and her overbearing mother in debt. To her resolve, her father’s creditor with his three sons took her in as a maid. She found a type of belonging she could never get from her late father.

MADRASTA (1996)

Directed by Olivia M. Lamasan | Screenplay by Ricky Lee and Olivia M. Lamasan

Mariel finds herself adapting to her new life as a wife when she married a single father with three children.

K’NA THE DREAMWEAVER (2014)

Direction and Screenplay by Ida Anita Del Mundo

The film is set in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, where K’na, a T’boli princess, inherits the power of dreamweaving from her grandmother. In the community, dreams are visions bestowed by the abaca goddess to select T’boli women to interlace the fibers into the most exquisite patterns of t’nalak, a sacred fabric.

SUNDAY BEAUTY QUEEN (2016)

Directed by Baby Ruth Villarama | Produced by Chuck Gutierez

The documentary is dubbed as modern-day Cinderella story as it follows the everyday life of five female OFWs in Hong Kong, wherein one day each week, they are granted a moment of beauty, joy, and dignity in a local pageant.

BABAE AT BARIL (2019)

Direction and Screenplay by Rae Red

A saleslady realizes the gravity of owning a gun when she finds one left on the street after seeing a man flee from a shooting near her house.

A THOUSAND CUTS (2020)

Direction and Screenplay by Ramona Diaz

The documentary follows Rappler co-founder Maria Ressa in her experience as a journalist who becomes a target of the administration while reporting on the war on drugs, extrajudicial killings, and the election.

The women portrayed in these films highlight the complexities of the female existence in different aspects of life. Their existence may be fictional in a sense, but their stories do exist and are actual realities of the women in our society.

THE CCP EPA: OUR CULTURE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Staying true to its mission of being a source of knowledge on Philippine arts and culture, some of the CCP EPA’s content are films that serve as catalysts for inclusivity and change, not only for women, but for society as a whole.

The CCP EPA provides over 5,000 articles and video excerpts from dances and musical performances straight from the CCP Archives. Its digital edition, the CCP EPAD, also contains the same 5,000 articles, and over 5,000 photos of the printed edition.

This collective and carefully sourced information is the legacy of the Center’s campaign to make art matter to every Filipino as we progress through this fast-paced, modern society.

Subscribe to the CCP EPAD through its official website epa.culturalcenter.gov.ph/encylopedia with rates from Php75 per month to Php675 per year. Email epa@culturalcenter.gov.ph to purchase a copy of the CCP EPA print edition and/or USB.