Camera Juan banks on citizen power

MANILA, Philippines - GMA News and Public Affairs presents another groundbreaking election project that paints a picture of the Philippines not from the media’s point of view but from that of the ordinary Filipinos’ themselves. Titled Camera Juan, it is an ambitious undertaking that hopes to demonstrate the power of the watchful citizenry.

A collective film woven from various video contributions from ordinary Filipinos, Camera Juan depicts scenes of wrongdoing, social struggles and even acts of modern-day heroism as witnessed by the citizens in their day-to-day living.

“When we started the project, we were apprehensive that we may not receive enough contributions to produce a full-length special,” shares Public Affairs AVP Clyde Mercado. “We are pleased to share, however, that since our initial call-out, we already received hundreds of video contributions from all over the Philippines and even from our countrymen overseas.”

Compiling these video contributions and providing visual direction for Camera Juan is no less than Filipino filmmaker and Cannes award-winning director Brillante Mendoza.

“It’s my first time to direct a project like this. What I like about it is the approach, the involvement of ordinary people. That’s what you’ll see in this film — ordinary Filipinos telling their stories. The objective from the beginning was to empower them. What we did was to supplement visuals to the stories they sent and then weave these stories into one collective film,” explains Mendoza.

The film tackles some of the country’s most pressing issues like child labor as represented by child laborers in a koprahan in Samar, education as told by the story of students in Zamboanga who had to row boats in order to get to school, and health via a documentation of public hospitals in Masbate that lack manpower and medical facilities, among others.

“As filmmakers, we need to immerse in the issues to fully understand them. For Camera Juan, we went to far-flung towns to dig deeper into these issues (presented by video contributors). Sana ang maliit at simple naming paraan sa paglalahad ng mga bagay na ito ay mabigyan din ng pansin ng mga susunod na mamumuno,” adds Brillante.

“This is what Camera Juan is all about — showing Filipinos that we all can take an active role in building the nation, especially since the elections are just around the corner,” says program manager Angeli Atienza.

Presented by Jessica Soho, Camera Juan: Pelikulang Binuo ng Mamamayan airs tonight at 10 on GMA 7’s Sunday Night Box Office.