Adjani Arumpac, 27

Filmmaker, writer

Who are the women who inspire you?

Ruperta Guerrero, my grandmother, who lives alone in General Santos City. She is 80. She is self- sustaining. She has no ailments whatsoever, having lived a healthy, active, basic, no-nonsense lifestyle.

Who, in your opinion, are female role models for todays youth?

The women who keep the homes they grew up in.

What women’s issues are you tackling in your work?

I am a filmmaker and a writer. My documentary film, , portrays the ruins of a famous home in Cotabato city called the White House. The ruins are a metaphor for the falling out of power of a politically influential family who once lived there. The story is told by the women who once lived inside the house, their female perspectives giving life to an empty space. The film charts history through the affections of these women, making it a very intimate film. Although, lately, with the Maguindanao tragedy, the film has taken on a political meaning, as it is the very same sketch of the power that the family/ the perpetrators of this brutal massacre, holds.

I am half-christian and half-muslim. is the first of a trilogy that aims to uncover personal narratives of the two beliefs/cultures buried under layers of misrepresentations of a war shown by the media as only and only a cross-cultural war, highlighting Mindanao’s hybridity instead of the dense web of greed and interests that put them together in the first place, that continue to sink the area’s socio-economic status.

What challenges do you face in your position today?

To c ommand respect from peers and to prove credibility to the bigwigs, put your best in everything that you do as you are only as good as your last project.

It will always be a challenge.

What can we do to empower ourselves as modern women?

Empowerment is about seeking the formed perspective.

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