Finding your next obsession
Finding your next obsession

First begun in 2006, WAKE (SUBIC) completes the documentary diptych, FOR EXAMPLE, THE PHILIPPINES, the first part of which, VAPOR TRAIL (CLARK) was released in 2010. Collectively this nine-hour essay explores circumstances of toxic contamination around the former US military bases in the Philippines as the locus for a meditation on historical amnesia, colonial privilege, and the consequences of unchecked militarism. Interweaving both cinéma-vérité and interview footage of Filipino victims and their families, environmental spokespersons, and community activists, along with early photographic material pertaining to the Philippine-American War, partisan songs, historical texts, and landscape photography, both films are an attempt to construct a work capable of rendering some measure of this human and environmental tragedy and the complexities of its remedy.
LUXEN Decision Guide
A real-world choice where the subject itself is the reason to press play, making curiosity and context part of the experience.
Best fit
Who it is for
Best suited to viewers who want to leave a watch with something concrete to think about or learn from.
Commitment
Longer watch · 4h 37m
Use the runtime as a quick check against how much time you have tonight.
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