CAVITE

San Francisco Premiere

USA/Philippines | 80mins | Video Color | English & Tagalog w/E.S.

In person: Directors Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana

A gritty psychological thriller, CAVITE provides an incisive commentary on Islamic terrorism in the Philippines. For Filipino American Adam, life seems to have hit rock bottom: his job is boring, his pregnant girlfriend refuses to bear his child because he is a Muslim, and his father has just died in a horrific bus explosion in the Philippines. Heartbroken and disheveled, he arrives in Manila to discover that his mother and sister have been kidnapped by terrorists. Via cellphone, the kidnappers lead him on a treacherous cat-and-mouse journey through the over-crowded, garbage-strewn streets of Cavite, a backwater town stricken by poverty and violence. Faced with a life-or-death decision, he must confront not only the harsh realities of life in the Philippines, but also his identity as a Muslim and his privilege as an American.

CAVITE is at once a suspenseful hostage drama, a revealing documentary, and an implicit critique of the economic and political inequalities that turn countries like the Philippines into breeding grounds for insurgency. Post-9/11, terrorism is at the forefront of international security concerns. Rather than appeal to our basest fears, CAVITE asks us to take a deeper look at our own, global responsibility. The film is fresh off its premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival; as FilmThreat urges, "If you have a chance to see it, do."

—Sharon Mizota