Rights (film)

2007 Filipino anthology documentary film

Rights

Directed by| Various (see below)

Production
companies

* Free Jonas Burgos Movement
* Southern Tagalog Exposure

Release date

* August 2007 (2007-08)

Running time

| 20 minutes
Country| Philippines
Languages|

* Filipino
* English

Rights (also known as Rights Volume I) is a 2007 Filipino short anthology documentary film produced by the collectives Southern Tagalog Exposure and the Free Jonas Burgos Movement. A compilation of independently produced public service announcements, the film is themed around the "present human rights situation in the Philippines".[1] Filmmakers Sunshine Matutina and Kiri Dalena made the film to bring attention to the enforced disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos in April 2007, a case which has remained unsolved as of 2023.[2]

In September 2007, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) gave the film a controversial "X" rating for "undermin[ing] the faith and confidence of the government", which prompted criticisms of censorship against the board; the rating was lowered to R-13 a week later.

## Short films

[edit]

Final list of films by 2008:

* Definition #1 (JL Burgos)
* Where Is Jonas? (Kiri Dalena)
* Ignorante (Jon Red)
* The Disappeared (Anna Isabelle Matutina)
* Tanga (Paolo Villaluna)
* Unang Araw (King Catoy)
* Lost and Found (Sigrid Andrea Bernardo)
* Good News (Pam Miras)
* Human Rights Worker (RJ Mabilin)
* Adelisa (Kiri Dalena)
* Bangka o Eroplano (Sigrid Andrea Bernardo)
* Diyaryo (Mike Dagñalan)
* Ikaw (VTagaro)
* One Tilted Screen (John Torres)
* Dukot (Sigfreid Barros-Sanchez)
* Juan Takbo (Anna Isabelle Matutina)
* Karne (Sigfreid Barros-Sanchez)

## Production

[edit]

The Rights project was begun by filmmakers Anna Isabelle "Sunshine" Matutina and Kiri Dalena after activist Jonas Burgos was abducted on April 28, 2007.[3] Matutina thought of creating a film that would bring attention to Burgos' disappearance and shared the idea with Dalena.[3] It was then decided that the film would take the form of a compilation of public service announcements made by various independent filmmakers so that they would "commit pro bono" in creating shorts for the project.[3]

## Release

[edit]

An early version of Rights which then consisted of nine films was released on DVD in August 2007.[3] By next month, the filmmakers met with the Independent Filmmakers Cooperative (IFC), organizers of the film festival Indie Sine at Robinson's Galleria, to arrange for a screening of the film at the festival on September 21, 2007, to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the country.[3]

### MTRCB classification controversy

[edit]

Before the film could be screened at Indie Sine, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) gave the film an "X" rating on September 18, a classification which effectively prohibits any film from being screened due to local theaters having no permission to exhibit X-rated films.[3][4] The three board members who gave the rating reasoned that the film is "one-sided and undermines the faith and confidence of the government and duly constituted authorities".[3][4] All 13 directors of the short films compiled in Rights jointly criticized the decision as curtailing their freedom of expression, while film director Carlitos Siguion-Reyna (son of former MTRCB chairwoman Armida Siguion-Reyna) condemned the rating as "simply censorship".[1]

After the filmmakers appealed the rating, the MTRCB held a second review of the film with five other board members led by lawyer Eric Mallonga, and lowered the film's classification to an R-13 rating on September 26.[4]

## See also

[edit]

* Alipato at Muog, a 2024 feature-length documentary film also made in response to the disappearance of Jonas Burgos
* Human rights in the Philippines
* Extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances in the Philippines

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Andrade, Jeannette I. (September 22, 2007). "'Rights' film's X-rated slammed". Philippine Daily Inquirer. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc. p. A18. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
2. ^ Burgos, Edita Tronqued (April 28, 2022). "READ | Edita Burgos pens open letter to VP Leni, as mother to mother, on 15th year of Jonas's enforced disappearance". BusinessMirror. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
3. ^ a b c d e f g Jopson, Teresa Lorena A. (2013). "Silent Assault: Multilevel Censorship as Media Repression in the Philippines". Philippine Social Sciences Review. 65 (2). University of the Philippines Manila: 55–58.
4. ^ a b c "Ban on human rights films lifted". Philippine Daily Inquirer. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc. AP. September 29, 2007. p. A9. Retrieved March 25, 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Rights at IMDb