SJIC hosts screening of “Iti Mapukpukaw” in celebration of Filipino American History Month

The LGBTQ+ student organization EQUAL and the Social Justice Intercultural Center (SJIC) hosted a film screening of “Iti Mapukpukaw (The Missing)” and a Halo-Halo event on Oct. 22.

SJIC Staff at the Liberal Arts Campus prepared the event in celebration of Filipino American History Month.

Despite the staff’s preparation of the screening of “Iti Mapukpukaw”, the Philippines first full-length animated submission to the academy awards, passersby opted for the Halo-Halo instead of watching the film.

Halo-Halo is a Filipino dessert made with sweet beans, jellies topped with evaporated milk, leche flan and ube halaya.

^{LBCC Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Analyst Cyrus Fernandez, right, promotes the Iti Mapukpukaw (The Missing) Film Screening + Halo Halo event to colleague TJ Elijah, left, on Oct. 22. Fernandez invited colleagues to participate in the events Halo Halo giveaway. (Abigail Soto Godinez)}

Throughout the event the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Analyst for LBCC, Cyrus Fernandez, invited his colleagues to enjoy a Halo-Halo, while staff encouraged attendees  to sign in and grab one. 

SJIC staff Alejandro Flores, acknowledged the lack of attendees and described what the center plans to do differently in the future. 

“So last year we had it in the A-Quad. We wanted to do something a little different this year with the movie screening, but we do think that the location might’ve been a little hidden, so next year we’ll probably kinda consider just moving it back to a location that’s a little more visible,” said Flores. 

Although students did not watch the film, Fernandez highlighted its usage of the Ilocano language and emphasized how cultural details in film are important representations for viewers. 

“Ilocano is also something that we rarely hear in the North or in the South of the Philippines and so the reason why it’s important is because this representation of the Philippines is so underrepresented in this way, so they get to have a big stage, big moment for our country or the country of the Philippines to take up that space, to go in that direction,” said Fernandez.

SJIC community advocate Itzel Marin explained the importance of creating spaces with communities like the LGBTQ+ and Filipino community. 

“There’s been times where I feel like I had to choose which identity I was gonna walk with into the door, so I feel like creating these spaces right where you know, where there’s like queer characters but they’re also like characters of color, it’s important cause I feel like, you know, for once a student can walk in and they don’t have that internal struggle of like, I have to choose what I’m gonna share about myself today,” said Marin. 

Flores highlighted the diverse community on campus and recognized the importance of having people attend these events. 

“I think we live in a very diverse community here in Long Beach and I think on campus community here at Long Beach City College reflects the diverse community outside of campus and we just want people to come and become more informed, become more knowledgeable and learn about other cultures and that way we can all become better allies towards each other,” said Flores.