Independencia by Raya Martin

Møre og Romsdal Kunstsenter presents Independencia, the breakthrough film by acclaimed filmmaker Raya Martin.

Independencia is a 2009 Filipino period drama film co-written and directed by Raya Martin. Set in the Philippines during the start of the American Occupation in the early 1900s, the film revolves around three generations of a family who flees the impending conflict in the city and tries to survive in the jungle. The grainy, black and white quality, primitive editing techniques and painted backdrops evoke the mode of filmmaking pervasive during that era.

Mimicking early silent films and an homage to early cinema, the film was shot solely in a sound stage, creating a lush metaphor that plays with cinematic illusions and the cultural and mythical history of the Philippines. Independencia was the first Filipino film to be selected to the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.

Born in 1984 in Manila, The Philippines, Raya Martin has directed a diverse array of features and short films, encompassing fiction, documentary, installation, and performance. In 2009, he made history as the first Filipino director to screen two films in the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival.

His breakthrough feature, Independencia, supported by the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, premiered in the Un Certain Regard Competition and was acclaimed for its unique blend of Filipino history and Hollywood fantasy. Additionally, he co-directed the urban noir film Manila, which screened Out of Competition that same year.

Raya’s striking body of work includes the five-hour video experimental coming-of-age film Now Showing, the atmospheric horror piece How to Disappear Completely, and the co-directed meta-existentialist film La Última Película, filmed in Mexico.

His recent films include the crime drama Smaller and Smaller Circles, based on F.H. Batacan’s bestselling crime novel—the first of its kind in Filipino literature—and the nostalgic ‘90s coming-of-age comedy Death of Nintendo.

His works have been showcased in various venues, including dOCUMENTA (13), the Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of the Moving Image, the Korean Film Archive, and the Asian Film Archive. He has also participated in the Cannes Cinéfondation and Berlinale Residency programs.

Raya Martin is a distinguished recipient of the prestigious Thirteen Artists Awards by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.