Freedom First Films

20/03/2022

Magtulong tulungan tayo na maituwid ang maling kaalaman ng mga pinaniwala ng mga marites sa maling inpormasyon tungkol sa Martial Law. Mas maraming makumbinsi nating manuod ng mga pelikulang ito mas maayos.

15/03/2022

REST IN PEACE: “It is with the most profound sadness to announce today that my dear friend and brother Brent Renaud was killed by Russian forces today in Ukraine while reporting on the war there. Juan Arredondo, a filmmaker and my former graduate advisee student at Columbia Journalism School, was also shot but is recovering after surgery. Brent was a brilliant filmmaker.

We worked in some insanely bad places together over the years, from months on end in Somalia, to witnessing the fight against ISIS in Iraq, to seeing ISIS’s attempted takeover of Libya. We slept on boats together, in bunkers together, blown up school houses and in shady hotels. He always looked exhausted. Seldom smiled. There was an anxiousness behind those tired eyes. What I saw in them was a man always trying to figure out what next.

He never stopped working. He was consumed by telling people the honest truth behind the stories he covered. He was fearless. You could not intimidate him. He cared deeply about the people he filmed. If you wanted to know what he thought, you didn’t need to ask him. And he probably wouldn’t tell you, because that’s how he hid his grief and emotions. But you could find the answer in his films. He and his brother Craig found them everywhere. From economically challenged schools in Chicago to homeless shelters in New Orleans to battlefields far and wide.

He was an understated scholar and a reluctant hero of humanity. He won every award that mattered in broadcast journalism. An Arkansas kid educated at Columbia U. and later at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow. When he won his Nieman Fellowship he thanked me as if my letter even mattered. It cracked me up because sometimes I think he didn’t even know himself how talented he was. Beyond humble.

I’ll miss him more than I can put into words. My deepest sadness goes out to his family and those who loved him. You know who you are. Brent does, too."

- Jeff Newton

17/10/2021

It is often thought that producers in the Philippines are human ATM machines.... But that is a Hollywood myth, and being a producer is a gray label in the country.

08/10/2021

How prominent journalist Maria Ressa became a prime target of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on the press. A 90-minute documentary. This journali...

21/08/2021

Her life story and the life stories of all the courageous who gave up up their life in the struggle of liberation for the poor and the oppressed is what we hope we could immortalize at Freedom First Films .

Kerima Lorena Tariman, 42, is survived by her husband and 18-year-old son

02/05/2021

We call it the powerless p**n but the meaning is almost the same.

Being a Filipino is something I’m proud of. That a great percentage of our people remains poor—no. For poverty is neither romantic nor exotic; it is a cruel thing, and...

06/04/2021

Our starting point for every film we will make in the future.

“My whole life has been inspired by the Jesus I see in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. ⁣
⁣
The white man’s Jesus has always been a farce designed to give them power and take it away from everyone else. ⁣
⁣
But the Jesus I see in the Bible was a man of the people. He touched the untouchables and healed them. ⁣
⁣
His friends were outcasts. ⁣
⁣
He spoke truth to power and broke traditions anytime they got in the way of helping people in need. ⁣
⁣
And in the end, he became a political prisoner and was ultimately executed by the state. ⁣
⁣
Nearly half of the world believes that this man rose from the dead. And today we honor this. ⁣
⁣
But I have long since believed that we BEST honor the living Christ by living how he lived. ⁣
⁣
How, you may wonder? It’s spelled out in the Book of Matthew. Plain as day. ⁣
⁣
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, "I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’⁣
⁣
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’⁣
⁣
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”⁣
⁣
That’s why I have always had side eye for those who celebrate today, but refuse food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, comfort for the strangers and immigrants in strange lands, clothing for those with none, and presence and friendship for those in prison. ⁣
⁣
Because Jesus, AFTER HE ROSE AGAIN, said when you ignored THEM, you ignored him.”

- Shaun King

09/03/2021

We would like to do a film on this massacre once we have come up with the needed resources. People deserve the truth.

IT WAS A MASSACRE.

In a statement, Vice President Leni Robredo said there is only one way to describe the deadly police and military raids in Calabarzon that left at least 9 activists dead and 6 others arrested – a "massacre."

READ: https://www.rappler.com/nation/robredo-statement-bloody-sunday-calabarzon-activists-raids-killings

29/01/2021