Century of Birthing

The film tells two stories folded into each other. In one a director wrestles with a film he has not been able to finish for years; he sits at the editing table, moves between believing in his own work and giving it up, and another account entirely runs in his head. In the other story there is a religious community in the provinces; as the leader’s words harden the group closes in on itself, the lives of the women narrow and past a certain point there is no going back. When the two strands are joined, the question of what the artist will do with his own inspiration comes up. Lav Diaz’s three hundred and fifty nine minute Filipino film was shot in black and white in long takes; Perry Dizon, Hazel Orencio and Angel Aquino appear. It was completed in 2011.