Eksena! Queer space for Queer desires
Eksena! Queer space for Queer desires
Last March 23, 2024, the first edition of Eksena! launched at Sine Pop, Cubao. A gathering where everyone gets to celebrate queer work, queer presence, and queer cinema. Organized by queer filmmakers; Petersen Vargas, Kaj Palanca, Celeste Lapida, Carl Adrian Chavez, Kuki Zinampan, and Patrick Pangan—the event showcased 7 short films on queer love and desires, spanning the past 40 years of Filipino queer cinema. Raul Sarmiento’s Honey from the 80s kick off the event, followed by Allan Brocka’s Rick & Steve The Happiest Gay Couple In The World, a lego stop-motion about a gay couple and a lesbian couple as they banter to negotiate having a baby; both a bit dated while still offering humorous stories about queer love. Also part of the line-up was Paolo Villaluna’s Palugid, perhaps my personal favorite from the lineup, Palugid (Margin) is a documentary that navigates itself through the chaotic city, exploring the marginalization and social exclusion of being gay through the filmmaker’s own experiences as a teenager as he wanders and search for spaces between public restrooms, dark nightclubs, and vacant lots to recover himself.
The latter half of the lineup were all entirely from the 2010s, showing a significant shift in the direction that queer cinema are taking. The first one being a rather sweet and heartwarming coming of age queer short film, Ang High School at Si Olive by Keana Trasporte, a film that tells the story of a Catholic high school student whose feelings for her friend are questioned by different social contexts that heavily influence her views and sensibility. Keana Transporte explores how being sincere in a world of odd individuals influences how we choose to show ourselves in society. Followed by this was another documentary made by Beverly Ramos, Dory, a century and a year old retired beautician who ponders on the sacrifices she’s had to make for her one and only lover for the sake of living a just life in the eyes of God. A beautiful, intimate, and emotional story of selflessness and how queer people must constantly make sacrifices in order to live a life that their religion forbids. The lineup of films was completed by Mark Felix Ebreo’s This Is Not A Coming Out Story, and Samantha Lee’s It Was A Love Story (After All), a short and sweet story of an old aged romance to close off a rather diverse selection of queer films.
Alongside the short films that were featured was a talk moderated by Jade Castro with the National Artist Ricky Lee, JP Habac, and Samantha Lee centered around the spaces for queer cinema and filmmakers. Screenplays of short films made by the organizers were also exhibited and were free to read at the event.
Eksena’s curation of films showcases how queer people move from every decade, since the 1980s. A program that centers on queer desire, all the ways that longing and romance have changed for the past 40 years for queer people. And you can see through the films how it evolves, from their modes of production, starting from being DIY and experimental to being funded and well produced, you notice how it becomes more accepting and celebratory. Petersen Vargas said that the program was born from the idea that queer filmmakers are still on the periphery in the film industry, and they always have to find their own ways to express their voice, hence Eksena was born, a space for queer people to celebrate queer cinema, desires, and longing.
An event focused on queer desire and how over the past 40 years, queer people's experiences with longing and romance have evolved. Through the selection of films, Eksena has demonstrated how queer cinema has grown and developed since the 1980s. As you watch the films, you can see how it changes, from their DIY and experimental beginnings to their well-funded and produced works, you can see how it becomes more accepting and celebratory. As stated by Petersen Vargas, the program's inception stemmed from the notion that queer artists remain on the periphery in the film industry and must always discover new ways of expressing themselves. As a result, Eksena was created as a venue for queer individuals to celebrate queer cinema, desires, and longing. It has provided a space for queer artists to empower their voices and works. While it may seem like leaps and bounds, the filmmakers and team of Eksena recognize that there are still struggles, that they continue to fight for their ideas and sometimes make compromises. Eksena highlights the need for us to continue promoting and granting space to queer artists and filmmakers, with the goal of eradicating their struggles.
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