Valencia Diary

The central plateau of Mindanao island in the southern Philippines on the eve of the collapse of the Marcos regime. The perpetual tension between the army and democratic forces is accentuated by election fever, as Imelda Marcos get onto the campaign trail, close on the heels of Cory Aquino, surprise opposition challenger. Gary Kildea has lived for years with the people of the village of Sinayawan, to which dozens of farmers migrated fleeing famine devastated regions. Most of the film is woven around comments and reactions from simple people, notably rice farmers Rogel and Aida Gonzales, recently relocated in Sinayawan, and Father Rino, who zips around the country on his motorbike, preaching against political and military abuses in the name of Heaven. A film in the “direct caméra” mode, it inbeds individual live in History with universal resonance.