Film Projects
The Cotabato Sessions (2013) - Director/Producer
The Cotabato Sessions is a full length music album and 30 minute short music film that features the music legacy of one family, the Kalanduyans, in Cotabato City, Mindanao, Philippines.
The Kalanduyans are several generations of musicians from the Maguindanaon tribe in the Philippines who perform a beautiful Indigenous art form known as kulintang, gong ensemble music as well as lute string music, the kutyapi. Alongside the music there is always dance.
The Cotabato Sessions was recorded and filmed in Cotabato City, Mindanao in the southern island of the Philippines. It was a rare moment to be able to get together these generations of musicians in the family. The Kalanduyans are part of a minority Islamic tribe, the Maguindanaons in the Philippines who have been entirely relocated to Cotabato City and elsewhere after many decades of civil unrest in the south.
This album and film capture the generations of men, women, and youth performing ritual music and its variations in the home of master artist Danongan Kalanduyan, in a procession, in the courtyard of a mosque and in the recording session of a concert hall.
*2014 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
*2014 Asian American International Film Festival / New York
*2015 Pagdiriwang Film Festival / Seattle /Diwa Film Showcase
Walking With Grace (2016) - Co-Director/Co-Producer
Walking with Grace is a short 360º video documentary that highlights Little Tokyo places and streets through the perspective of Grace Chikui, a blind woman and long-time resident.
WALKING WITH GRACE is a production presented by Form follows Function and Visual Communications, with VR Direction and Spatial Audio App/Design by Vicki Huang which premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in April 2016; as part of the program, INTERACTIVE LITTLE TOKYO!
*2016 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Union (2012) - Co-Director/Co-Producer
In 1922, in the burgeoning area of downtown Los Angeles known as Little Tokyo, leaders of three separate struggling Japanese missions decided to combine their efforts to create one strong church. They called it the Japanese Union Church. And as the construction workers and parishioners lowered the ceremonial cornerstone that year, they were laying a foundation built on unity and co-existence - values which would continue to be represented throughout the structure’s life. Today, It is no wonder that the simple yet grand four-columned Colonial building, which began as the Japanese Union Church of Los Angeles is now the Union Center for the Arts, stands as a monument to what can be accomplished when cooperation, understanding and a singular vision of community guides the way.
Giving voice to an enduring landmark that has experienced pivotal moments in the history of Los Angeles, Traces 2: UNION presents a glimpse into the life of a building through the memories and accounts of those who have been a part of it's story. If you are among those who have been there, whether for a musical production, an art show, a film screening in 2012, or for worship in 1923, then you will know that 120 Judge John Aiso St. has embodied much of what is good in a metropolis as complex and enriching as Los Angeles.
"Civilizations should be measured by the degree of diversity attained and the degree of unity retained." - W. H. Auden
FEATURED ON KCET DEPARTURES:
kcet.org/socal/departures/landofsunshine/fffridays/traces-union-church-little-tokyo.html
*2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
*2012 13th Annual DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival (Opening Night Short)
"Here" by The Miles Approach - Director/Producer
A Short Film by Joel Quizon and Maya Santos
Directed by Joel Quizon
Edited by Maya Santos
The Miles Approach:
Vivian Chow
Drew de Ramos
Luis Mendoza
*2009 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival