Ram Botero – Dagmay.online

In this short film, three characters, a transgendered woman, a poet, and an artist meet in limbo. This excerpt features Scenes 3-6. The film is one of the shorts featured in the 2019 Ngilngig Asian Fantastic Film Festival to be held in Davao on October 25-29, 2019.

3. Ext. Forest. Noon.

The three characters emerge from the trees. The trees tower covering the sky. The noon light peaks through the leaves. A gentle breeze whispers through the branches. The woman leads the little parade. They’re inspecting their surroundings. The woman turns to the activist. The parade pauses.

Woman:
Unsa diay nahitabo nimo?

(The activist looks at her straight in the eyes. His gaze is sharp.)

Activist:
Redtagged.

Woman:
Ha, unsa man diay imong gibuhat?

Activist:
Nangandoy kog libre nga edukasyon para sa tanan. Apan dili sakto ang mag martsa ra sa karsada unya mobatbat sa megaphone. Nag volunteer ko isip magtutudlo sa bukid, sa eskwelahan sa mga Lumad.

Woman:
O, unsa may daotan ana?

Activist:
Wala, pero ingon nila gina-radicalize daw namo ang mga Lumad. Gina-brainwash aron mahimong mga rebelde. Ang amo lang makat-on sila mobasa ug mo-ihap aron dili sila daling mailad, dili sila madaog-daog.

Woman:
Unsa ba gyoy daotan ana? Ako sure gayod ko nga deserve nako diri. Nag-prostitute ko maskin nakahuman kog skwela, professional. Lisod man gyod mangitag trabaho ang mga pareho nako. Nang-apply ko pagka elementary school teacher, wala man lang gyod ko nila gipa-demo. Giingnan ko nila, balik pag lalaki na ka.

Continue reading Pamalugu (In Limbo)

I have been gay since I was five. Playing with toy guns or miniature race cars were never my game. Instead, I fancied baby dolls and their flamboyant dresses and silky, curly locks. I considered them alive—my little friends and fairy godmothers with whom I shared my innermost desires.

But my Mama had a great distaste for watching me play with my little girly playmates and would pinch me hard to restore my male consciousness. After all, dolls are for girls and I was meant to play with less delicate things. To get back to my pink world, I decided to play with my dolls in a place where I thought we could be protected—behind the bushes in front of Mama Mary’s grotto in our backyard. Like the mists of Avalon, the bushes concealed us from the great perils of time and my mother’s disapproval. We played roles, had tea parties, and fairy dances. But our favorite musical act was Sister Act 1’s “I Will Follow Him,” in which the fake nun Whoopi Goldberg infected the world with happiness by reworking a boring church hymn into great song-and-dance number. It is the song that would best define my gay childhood. It carried me to beautiful heights of happiness and divinity.

Continue reading Memoirs of a "Gay-sha"