Failure of Grace: Sarming & Kuarta

Failure of Grace, in two parts 'Mirror' and 'Money.' Based on a Filipino children's game where a coin balanced on the head lands in the mouth; hints at the Filipino mythology of the headless Pugot and the Aswang Manananggal creatures, whose physically divided body is her only means of freedom. Home is an empty 'house' inhabited by overworked parts of the body that represent a Filipino-American statistic politically divided during a tumultuous 2020, which happens to reflect the same statistic of Pilipinx medical frontliners disproportionately dying of COVID-19 in the USA. Using the mirror of Jasmine Orpilla's late grandmother, the installation is a dancing, 3-way reflective beacon mirror that searches for signs of life.
Music, vocals, choreography, design and direction by Jasmine Orpilla.

  • Jasmine ORPILLA
    Director
  • Jasmine ORPILLA
    Writer
  • Ghostlight Residency Los Angeles
    Producer
  • Jasmine ORPILLA
    Key Cast
  • Jasmine ORPILLA
    Musical Composer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    Art Installation, Dance film
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 39 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 15, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Tagalog
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Jasmine ORPILLA


Ilokana/x-American, JASMINE ORPILLA activates her living traditional practices of dance, protective family ritual and music from the Philippine diaspora, within the contemporary yet expiring frame of her own 1st-generation schism from both imperialist history and the oppressive military culture of her childhood. An awarded international performer and composer who also takes space with renown dance, theatre and opera directors on stages worldwide, Jasmine Orpilla's body, voice and vision continues to disrupt the classist status-quo institutions of genre, 'gender,' and racial stereotypes she encounters in those spaces today.

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