The LBCC Social Justice Intercultural Center partnered with the MANA program to show the short documentary ‘Reach Out’ as part of Filipino Heritage Month with the director and producers of the film advocating for Andruil out of Long Beach and for artists to promote civic engagement.
The film follows the collaboration and production process of Los Angeles based music trio Bootleg Orchestra and Roger Rigor, an icon among Filipinos for his work with the VST & Company band.
Their collaboration resulted in a song that calls for climate action and the role art plays in fighting for human rights.
The team met Rigor through community organizers and grassroots organizations as Rigor has continued to be an advocate for Filipinos even in his retirement.
Prior to the screening of the film, producers Joanne Danganan and Menchie Caliboso had a short presentation on the exploitation of Filipino labor and how the U.S is occupying the Philippines land to push their initiative of Pax Silica.
Pax Silica is a U.S initiative to create an AI-supply chain that rivals China’s and their country’s dominance in global supply chains for AI, semi-conductors and other minerals used for data centers.
The issue arises when the U.S government actively exploits the Philippines land and people for labor and reduced taxes to proceed with the initiative.
“This spans across communities. We can all relate to the history of people’s land being exploited for capitalist benefits,” says Caliboso.
The presentation calls for ‘pro-people development’, which includes responsible extraction of minerals, fair pay and worker protections for Filipinos.
Included in their speeches, activist Jaz Taban shared information about upcoming events to continue fighting for human rights with protests against Anduril, a defense company creating AI-automated weapons for the military, building a new campus in Long Beach and Lakewood which the team behind ‘Reach Out’ has their support for.
Following the screening, the floor was opened to students to ask questions to the directors about their creative process and more information on how to continue the fight against exploitation.
In this discussion, producer Danganan and director John Haas shared how they are part of SIKLAB, a collective of filmmakers and artists committed to producing media that uplifts the everyday person.
The group calls upon artists to create and highlight people’s struggles in their art on whatever issues matters to them as it can create meaningful change in their community.
“I’m really into photography and I’m just here to have a good look at the movie and support fellow artists,” LBCC student and attendee James Trinh said.
The film has won an award for ‘Best Documentary’ with the Charlotte Asian American Film Festival and premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in 2024.
“Perfectionism is always hard. There’s always the film you want to exist and the one that actually exists, the sooner you embrace the one that you have, the better experience you’ll be able to get,” Haas said, speaking on the creative process behind the documentary.
While the film is not widely available yet, Haas and the production team have plans to either release to Youtube or their respective website, with the film already being distributed to the United Arab Emirate and the Filipino channels to reach overseas workers from the Philippines.
Haas’ next project is an upcoming feature length documentary covering the case of Kaizann Guerrero, a Long Beach resident who has been failed by the judicial system, with filming currently in progress.
