Cinemasia

Can't imagine life without cinema. Neither can I see the real getting more vivid and multi-dimensional if it is not rendered in reel or in the digital magic of motion picture. As much as I'm hooked on books, movies are just as mystifying to me with its seduction of light and shadow that compels me to behold and grasp the world inside and around me in sharper focus.
  

To the extent that films feed my imagination, what I watch also shapes my evolution: my sense of identity, my image of a nation, my notion of a worldview.

I'm an omnivore as far as films are concerned, and my viewing pleasure knows no genre, no race, no border. Indeed, my ongoing education about the universality of the human condition is largely owed to an appreciation for and fascination with the diversity of international films regardless of whatever is lost in translation. 

As a Filipino, however, I'm obviously most at home watching movies made not only from the Philippines but also from neighboring countries in the Asian region. My interest in Sociology also inspires me to look for qualities of Asian character and culture portrayed on screen that makes it both local and global at the same time. One sociological theory that appeals to me is "glocalization." That such concept was mulled over by a Western scholar (Roland Robertson) makes it all the more fascinating, proof-positive of the interconnected aspects of self and social experience that animate the dialectics of homogeneity and heterogeneity in time and space. 

In this context, this blog will be both my way of paying tribute to the dynamism of Asian cinema and my offering to non-Asians so they may partake of its opulent particularities that are often prone to be misunderstood and muddled into exoticism and xenophobia, which are mostly influenced by media representation. By highlighting a few of my favorite films that are not produced by Hollywood or the dream factories in Europe,  this blog is a testimony of pride and goodwill to people who look forward to seeing the common tie that binds us all, Asians or not. 


Below is a video showcase of the 10 Best Films of All Time from the Asia Pacific region honored by the CNN in 2008.