It gets pretty frustrating to hear people talk about Filipino art as if it’s non-existent. You know what I mean. When we talk about cinema and they say there aren’t any good Filipino-made films, or when we mention fine arts and the last Filipino artist they know is probably someone who’s already long been dead.
That won’t be much of a problem soon though, as Yabang Pinoy, the group that brought us various events highlighting the best of being Filipino, is setting up a festival aimed to celebrate and raise awareness of our local art and design, food, music, and films. The festival called District 1308 will showcase Filipino artists of all kinds.
The two-day festival will take place at Blue Bay Walk in Pasay City on June 16 to 17 from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m., and will feature an arts and design market, a Todo Patintero competition, and performances from spoken word artists and musicians such as Adrinka Lumad Djembe, Hinlalato, Yan Abelardo, The Crates, Lunch Poems, Saranggola Productions, Key of G, Marc Paderon, Kerith, Kooky Tuason, Marty Tengco, Cecill Artates, Rachel Coates, Charms Tiangzon, Dani Nakpil, Marlo Cabrera, Jedd Ong, and John Berida.
District 1308 has also partnered with Black Maria Cinema, which will be screening some recent local films at the event.
For more information and updates, check out Yabang Pinoy’s website and Facebook page.
Photo courtesy of Yabang Pinoy on Instagram. Art by Jeffrey Ronald Sisican.
Writer: PAULINE MIRANDA
