23 April 2015 – In celebration of National Women’s Month and National Heroes Day, the Philippine Embassy, in collaboration with the Philippine Studies Series Berlin, welcomed Hannah Espia to Berlin for the screening of her 2013 Cinemalaya-winning film “Transit”, which was also the Philippine submission to the 2014 Oscars’ Best Foreign Language Film category.  Philippine Ambassador to Germany Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek welcomed an eclectic mix of students, artists as well as members of the Filipino community who joined the packed screening room at the Kino Moviemento, Germany’s oldest cinema. Ambassador Sta. Maria-Thomeczek hoped the audience would gain a better appreciation of the sacrifices and persevering spirit of overseas Filipino workers, many of whom are separated from their families.

The film was followed by a question and answer session moderated by Ms. Rosa Castillo, the convener of the Philippine Studies Series Berlin, with Ms. Espia at the Kino Moviemento Lounge. Ten17P and Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment granted the Embassy special rights to screen the film for free.

Transit, which has featured in the Busan, Tokyo, Jerusalem and Palm Springs film festivals explores the intersecting stories of Filipinos in Tel Aviv when the threat of a law deporting the children of migrant workers looms in their precarious lives. Janet (Irma Adlawan) a domestic worker on an expired visa, struggles to hide her half-Israeli daughter, Yael (Jasmine Curtis-Smith), a rebellious teenager caught up in a juvenile romance. Most endangered in the situation is four-year old Joshua (Marc Justine Alvarez), whom Janet and Yael protect because the boy’s father, Moises (Ping Medina), works on weekdays as a caregiver in the city of Herzliya. The film also explores the life of a young lady, Tina (Mercedes Cabral), who arrives to start a new life in Israel.  Transit examines what it means to be a family and a stranger within one's home and in a foreign land.

Richard Kuipers of Variety.com provided his take on the film: “Centered on desperate measures taken by Filipino parents to prevent the forced removal of their Israeli-born, Hebrew-speaking children, this gracefully directed and inventively edited picture represents an impressive debut for helmer and co-scripter Hannah Espia... 'Transit' also speaks to the broader picture of displaced people - whether refugees, asylum seekers or foreign workers - who have left their homeland in search of a better life."

Before the screening, Hannah Espia also discussed Transit’s genesis and her next project. END