Ami Lien

The documentary film weaves personal testimonials from survivors of the violent massacre in the town of Escalante in 1985 with footage from community art activities with local children during their research visits. Against the backdrop of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s current regime and its attempts to suppress those testifying to structural violence in the Philippines, Langit Lupa explores how the Escalante Massacre endures as both a rupture and inflection point in Negros’ collective memory, whilst also portraying the revolutionary culture that subsists among the people.

Set in a guerrilla garden patch tended by Chinese immigrants abutting the FDR Highway in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, this 16mm film tracks the appearance and disappearance of a set of handmade paper butterflies. The paper butterflies are ritually set on fire, allowing them to cross the threshold into another world.