Nervous Translation (2017)
(Shireen Seno, Philippines 2017, 90 min., DCP)
Eight-year-old Yael is a bit adrift in her own world. A shy, private girl, she would rather write letters and listen to music than dance for her family and engage with the outside world. When she hears an advertisement for a pen that will give her a “wonderful life,” she decides to spend all her savings on this miracle pen, while an approaching typhoon threatens to make the outside world all too real. Seen through the eyes of Yael, this film captures the confusing and magical moments of childhood, while director Shireeen Seno gives voice to this quiet little girl in her perceptive, playful film full of jump cuts, sensitive sound design and ‘80s music. Set in 1987, not long after the People Power Revolution led to the fall of President Marcos, Seno empathetically captures the innocence and uncertainty of a child who doesn’t yet understand the world, although she is surrounded by it.
Introduction by director Shireen Seno. Post-screening Q&A with Seno and Tara Merenda Nelson, Curator and Director of Public Programs at Visual Studies Workshop.