Social Advocacy Cinema: The Mode of Production by Alternative Multimedia Collectives

Abstract

Alternative multimedia collectives in the Philippines advocate for social change on behalf of the marginalized sectors of society by producing, distributing, and exhibiting social advocacy cinema and other audiovisual productions. They creatively utilize film in various forms as a tool for social advocacy by adhering to the theory and praxis of alternative cinema that counters the dominant ideology, hegemony, and culture of mainstream media and commercial filmmaking. Anchored in the framework of small-scale, collective, and political filmmaking, this paper examines the mode of production of alternative multimedia collectives such as Kodao Productions, Tudla Productions, Mayday Multimedia, Film Weekly, Southern Tagalog Exposure, and The Breakaway Media, to name a few, that emerged and active between 2000 to 2019, or from Estrada to Duterte regime.