When a fellow Filipino has some beautifully raging words about artistry, writing, craft…anything about the fusion of art and social justice, you know I’m lovin’ it.

Here are some beautiful thoughts by Filipino filmmaker, Lino Brocka:

“The filmmaker, like his fellow artists in different media, has now
realized that the artist is also a public person. He does not work in
isolation from society. Instead of working alone in his ivory tower he
is a citizen of the slums, of the streets, of the battlefield if need
be. The artist is always a participant. He tries to be true not only
to his craft but also to himself. For it is the supreme duty of the
artist to investigate the truth, no matter what forces attempt to hide
it. And then to report it to the people, to confront them with it,
like a whiplash that will cause wounds but will free the mind from the
various fantasies and escapist fare that the Establishment pollutes
our minds with.

To the best of our abilities, and even if we oftentimes fail, we want
to do works that will hurt, films that will disturb, films that will
not make you rest. For the times are really bad, and given times like
these, it is a crime to rest. We can not rest, and we should not,
while there’s a fellow Filipino starving in Negros, an Aquino or
Galman crying for justice, a salvage victim lying in a mountain of
garbage while a corrupt family rules the country with uncontrolled
power and wealth. While it is the duty of the artist to work for what
is true, good, and beautiful, first we have to expose and fight for
what is wrong.

In these times when most of the media hide the truth from us, when
most of what we get from the media are silly gossip and petty flesh
and sensationalized crimes, we go to the streets to find out
what’s happening. We listen to those artists who dare risk their
lives and livelihoods, who reiterate once more the utmost duty of the
artist — that the artist is a committed person, that he will always
take the side of any human being who is violated, abused, oppressed,
dehumanized whatever his instrument — the pen, the brush, or the
camera.”

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!