We Are They
Presented as part of MoMA PS1’s Family Festival: Make Your Own World, June 28–29, 2025, Queens, NY.
Mauris leo erat, placerat quis semper eu, pulvinar in est. Nam eget justo quis ligula faucibus pretium ac nec mi. Aliquam lacus est, auctor sed arcu at, luctus condimentum lectus. Quisque vitae eleifend quam, vel suscipit nisl. Duis efficitur est nunc, eget efficitur felis porttitor in. Donec facilisis ultrices mattis. Quisque blandit ac enim non accumsan. Donec euismod magna turpis, ut blandit purus tempor sit amet. Suspendisse et hendrerit mi. Integer gravida, sapien quis ullamcorper auctor, metus eros aliquet ante, ut dictum ipsum tortor eget elit. Maecenas eu rutrum dui, ut faucibus lectus. Vivamus porttitor bibendum tortor.Still Lives is a short film that examines the funeral of Jerhode “Jemboy” Baltazar, a 17-year-old boy killed by police in Navotas, Philippines. The funeral took place on August 16, 2023, in a context marked by heightened media presence and public scrutiny. Utilizing still photographic images and the recorded voice of the victim’s mother, the film engages with the visual and sonic textures of grief within a heavily mediated space. Framed against the broader political backdrop of Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign and the subsequent rise of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the film situates individual loss within ongoing patterns of state violence and impunity. Rather than offering a linear narrative or didactic message, Still Lives explores the complexities of posthumous representation, archival ethics, and the tension between witnessing and spectacle. It reflects on the saturation of images of suffering in contemporary media environments and considers the implications of documenting grief in contexts where visual exposure does not guarantee justice. The film operates within the intersecting domains of political memory, diasporic return, and mediated mourning, raising questions about the responsibilities and limits of representation in the aftermath of state-sanctioned violence.