Ultimo: Different Ways of Killing a National Hero

Ultimo: Different Ways of Killing a National Hero 2008

1

A tribute-cum-reformulation-in-film of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal's poem "Mi Ultimo Adios," Khavn's "Ultimo: Different Ways of Killing a National Hero" explores identity and nationhood as viewed through the lens of a truly post-colonial individual. Ultimo is a 90-minute black-and-white silent film, with scenes from the director's meanderings in La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain) interspersed with lines from Rizal's poem, which was written a day before the hero's execution in 1896. Waiting, ambivalence, and re-membering —themes usually tackled in literature and criticism— are investigated through a series of images: the mundane elevated to the affective through a sensibility that does not shy away from pushing the boundaries of art. This version is scored by a post-kundiman duet of guitar and banduria.

2008

EDSA XXX: Nothing Ever Changes in the Ever-Changing Republic of Ek-Ek-Ek

EDSA XXX: Nothing Ever Changes in the Ever-Changing Republic of Ek-Ek-Ek 2012

8.00

EDSA XXX takes us on a wild ride through the ups and downs, twists and turns in the life of one man’s downfall and the rise to fame of another. The present leader KULOG NEGRO has led the country to progress; his rallying call is championing poverty for the benefit of tourists and film festivals. But the well-meaning leader is a mere puppet in the political arena and someone has just decided that he has to go.

2012