Aparisyon is an entry for Cinemalay Film Festival 2012 for the New Breed category!
Stars: Jodi Sta. Maria, Mylene Dizon, Raquel Villavicencio, Fides Cuyugan-Asensio
Director: Vincent Sandoval
Writers: Vincent Sandoval, Jerry Gracio, and Raquel Villavicencio
Aparisyon is a film about contemplative nuns who must grapple with an act of violence in the months leading to the declaration of Martial Law in 1972.
Sister Lourdes (Jodi Sta. Maria) is a new member of the Adoration Monastery, which is under the leadership of Mother Superior Ruth (Fides Cuyugan-Asensio). Sister Lourdes becomes close to Sister Remy (Mylene Dizon) whohas to deal with the fact that her activist brother has been snatched away. Raquel Villavicencio is also cast as Sister Vera, who is Mother Ruth’s aide and confidante.
According to Direk Vince, Aparisyon “focuses on the lives of these cloistered nuns, who are walled in by the monastery and insulated from the rest of the world. But the world outside makes itself felt indelibly and even brutally.”
Did he deliberately choose to make the film to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law? Direk Vince pointed out: “It’s incidental at best as I didn’t set out to do an advocacy film. Although I do feel it is important that we don’t have historical amnesia, especially since I belong to the generation after Martial Law.”