Mekeni is a beautiful and touching short that explores a father-daughter relationship in Kapampangan-Filipino and English, launching under level 4 lockdown in Auckland over zoom last night.
Written by and starring Marianne Infante and directed by Alyssa Medel-Khew, PAT trailblazers, Mekeni is unique in its capturing of Kapampangan language.
Made as part of the The Outlook For Someday for Someday Stories, a competitive filmmaking initiative for sustainable stories, this will be Alyssa’s second directing credit for 2021, and Marianne’s first writing credit for screen.
Celebrating the nuances of immigrant parent/child relationships in the aftermath of the death of the family matriarch, Mekeni has caught international attention from the Phillipines as the first of its kind to be made in New Zealand.
WATCH MEKENI HERE!
Image: Jinki Cambronero
SCOOP says:
“Kapampangan, an Austronesian language and one of the eight major languages in the Philippines, is a language and culture that is facing imminent extinction. This drove writer and producer, Marianne Infante (SHORTLAND STREET, PINAY) to create MEKENI to celebrate and preserve her culture.
“For me true love exists in the way my parents sing karaoke love songs and duets together every Sunday, how they spontaneously dance together in the living room, and how they rely on each other in their day to day routine and rituals as migrant parents in a country that is foreign to them” - Marianne Infante.
Image: Jinki Cambronero
Credits
Cast: Allan Murrilo, Márianne Infante
Director: Alyssa Medel-Khew
Co-Producer & Writer: Márianne Infante
Producer: Todd Waters
Script Consultant: Lynda Chanwai-Earle
Production Mentor: Shuchi Kothari
Made with the support of NZ On Air, Te Māngai Pāho and the New Zealand Film Commission
Credit: Jinki Cambronero