11 December 2013 - The Filipino movie “Transit,” depicting the plight of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Israel, was featured on December 06 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque as the closing film for the 15th Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival. The screening was attended by Philippine Embassy personnel led by Ambassador Generoso D.G. Calonge and members of the Filipino community, including the Jerusalem Choir which regaled the audience with Filipino songs.
Before the movie started, Ambassador Calonge thanked the organizers of the film festival for allowing the Philippines to be part of such distinguished event. He added that the movie, while being an art form, was real as it shows human nature and the audience could see the story of the characters unfold before their eyes. He said, “Transit is a narrative of life – the struggle to survive amidst economic and social rules. Our workers see it and live it day by day.”
A debut film of Hannah Espia and the Philippines’ official entry to the Best Foreign Language Film for the 86th Academy Awards, Transit affords viewers a very realistic look into the lives of Filipino immigrants in Israel. The film’s impressive direction and sequencing of scenes shows the ingenuity of Filipinos in movie-making and highlights seasoned and talented actors such as Irma Adlawan, Ping Medina and Mercedes Cabral, who, along with Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Marc Justin Alvarez, breathed life into the characters and captured the audience in the web of their stories.
While Transit is framed in a specific time, place and situation, its significance is universal as the issues of the characters in the movie are similar to those being dealt with by the rest of OFWs scattered all over the world. END