BUNSO

Set in the surreal and inhuman world of a crowded Philippine jail, this hauntingly intimate portrait captures Tony (age 13), Diosel and Bunso's (ages 11) struggle to survive among the adult rapists and murderers with whom they share their cells. Because of their small stature, they are able to make their way to the front of the line for daily rice rations; they share the food with one another. At night, they also use their size to their advantage, squeezing out sleeping spaces on the jam-packed prison floor.

The boys have hardly any parental visits and no known release date, and the days bleed into one another, punctuated only by an occasional drop of rain. Rain is both a blessing and curse: an afternoon shower allows them to bathe and perhaps wash their soiled clothes. It soothes their sores and aching bones. But with a leaky prison roof, it also floods their sleeping quarters at night. Rainy evenings are spent huddled together for warmth or vainly mopping up the fetid water, the idea of a good night's sleep only a distant dream.

Bunso and the other boys take us through a prison system, speaking with a rare mix of innocence, street wisdom, pain and humor about what it is like to be incarcerated for petty crimes at such a young age. A snapshot of rebellion in an atmosphere of devastating despair, the raw imagery of prison life exposes the horrific existence of child inmates caught between extreme poverty and the law.

Amy Dotson

Ditsi Carolino, is an independent documentary filmmaker who started as an NGO worker documenting human rights issues in Mindanao with photographs and slideshows. Her film on child labor MINSAN LANG SILA BATA (1996) won Best Documentary both at the Gawad CCP and the Film Academy of the Philippines; it also won a Gold Medal and the Grand Award for Documentary at the New York Festivals in 1999 and the Grand Prix Toutes Category at the Brussels Independent Film Festival in 1998.

Print Source:
Ditsi Carolino, Underground Pictures
15 Lands St.
Project 6
Quezon City, Manila 1101
Philippines
Tel: 63.926.6054
Email: ditsicarolino@yahoo.com

PRECEDED BY...BULLETS IN THE HOOD: A BED-STUY STORY
Terrence Fisher, Daniel Howard
USA, 2004, 22 minutes

Nineteen-year old Terrence Fisher lives in one of the most dangerous parts of Brooklyn. After losing eight friends to gun violence, he documents his own story, hoping to stop the bloodshed.

Print Source:
Reina Higashitani, Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV)
87 Lafayette Street
New York, New York 10013
Tel: 212-966-4510 ext. 235
Fax: 212-226-3053
Email: reina@dctvny.org

Friday 6/17 at 3:15 p.m.

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