10/17/2024
“Nurse Unseen,” pays tribute to Fil-Am nurses who died serving during Covid-19
By Grace Garcia Szpytma
A RED carpet event was rolled out for the Chicago premiere showing of the documentary ‘Nurse Unseen’, an event to celebrate October as Filipino American History Month.
Chicago is one the cities to premiere the film nationwide. The producer, Carlo Velayo and director Michele Josue, were at AMC Theater in Oakbrook, IL. on Oct. 8. to speak with the guests.
Josue, an Emmy award-winning director, felt she needed to pay tribute to the FilAm nurses who succumbed to the complications of COVID-19 by sharing personal stories of their lives.
The film bewailed the underreporting of the number of FilAM nurse deaths which actually made up of one- third of U.S. nurses who died from COVID. The documentary also addresses FilAM victims of Asian Hate during the plague.
The response was positive.
“Tickets were sold out for the scheduled one screening so a second one was added,” said Ruben Salazar, president of the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago (FAHSC). The turnout for both screenings was 200 people,” he added. ‘
Nurse Unseen’ premiered earlier in New York and was also sold out. It was so successful that it was extended for two more weeks,” according to producer Velayo. “
We love Chicago and how engaged the community is during FilAm History month,” Josue stated before the screening.
Film director Josue said she came from a family of nurses, her grandmother and great-grandmother, aunties and cousins.
Josue’s Aunt, Dodo Cuedo, who lived with Josue growing up, succumbed to COVID 19 and was featured in the film which shows video montages and interviews with close family.
“She was like my second mom, but also bighearted and generous, loved her patients. She worked the night shift at the oncology unit hospital,” Josue said. “She saw leukemia and cancer patients, a lot of whom would pass.”
“It was hard for her [to be a nurse]. I could see when she would be home, she would be moody and she would shut down. I wish I would have had more compassion and asked her how she was,” Josue added.
After the film ended, a question-and-answer segment was conducted. Velayo acknowledged that there are no nurses featured from the Midwest, only from Los Angeles and from New York. Budget and time constraints are the reason, he said.
However, two framed photos of Chicago-based nurses who succumbed to COVID-19 are on display at the theater lobby. They were of Joyce Pacubas Lebranc, RN, BSN, who worked at the UIC in SICU for 10 years. She was a graduate of Rush University in Chicago. The second individual was Anjanette Miller, RN, BSN, who worked at Community First Medical Center and graduated from the University of the Visayas, Philippines.
During the Q & A, a suggestion was made by an audience member to reach out for assistance from other, more prominent sources.
“Have you considered reaching out to PBS?” asked Mariano Santos, publisher/editor of PINOY newsmagazine. “The documentary needs a larger audience that is more than we can get in our community.
“[The documentary] is too important to be ignored by the general audience,” Santos added.
Audience member Patrick Quilao came to see what it was about.
“I’m a son of a nurse,” explained Quilao, an artist at the Art Institute of Chicago. His mother has already passed away but not from COVID-19.
Josue has an impressive documentary resume. She wrote and directed 2014’s ‘Matthew Shepard is a friend of Mine’ for which she won an Emmy. In her biography, she said she knew Shepard closely. Shephard was targeted by his murderers for being homosexual in 1998 for which he was tortured and killed.
In 2009, Josue also directed the documentary ‘Happy Jail ‘about an ex-inmate who becomes the manager of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in which Filipino inmates dance to Michael Jackson songs in a viral video.
“Nurse Unseen’ was sponsored by Asian Popup Cinema, Sama Sama Project, FYLPRO and FAHSC.
It was sponsored in part by New Lake College, Philippine Medical Association, The UP College of Medicine Alumni Association.
Pinoy Newsmagazine - The Filipino American Newsmagazine
