Love and Pain In Between Refrains

JOSELITO ALTAREJOS: Social consciousness is class consciousness
From pioneering the digital age of New Queer Cinema in the Philippines with his internationally awarded films such as Tale of the Lost Boys (2017), Unfriend (2014), Ang Laro sa Buhay ni Juan (2009), Ang Lihim ni Antonio (2010) – Joselito Altarejos very recently turned his advocacies and creative pursuits in highlighting the national democratic ideals and struggles of the Filipino masses by infusing them to his upcoming films. Currently in production, Walang Kasarian ang Digmang Bayan will be Altarejos’ contribution to the continuing saga of our countrymen against tyranny and sociopolitical oppressions. With his newly formed production, 2076 Kolektib, his ultimate goal is to create and produce multimedia contents that will arouse, educate, and inspire his audiences to become more vigilant and conscious of the social issues and challenges they face in the age of yet another strongman rule. In the true spirit of independent filmmaking, Altarejos’ decades of experience and continued quest to acquiring more profound knowledge and creative enrichment is geared towards marshaling the sentient and jolting the uninformed – while still very much adhered to forming the Brockanian concept of the Great Filipino Audience.
Altarejos, a native of Masbate, had formative years in theater and television. He is then commonly referred to as Jay Altarejos before he was given the grand opportunity to become a filmmaker himself in 2007. His auteurist signature has always been hinged to embracing his celebrated personality as a social provocateur, and his brand of directing is more leaning towards ultra-realism rather than impressionism.
Among his recent films are Cinemalaya Best Film Kasal (2014), the Urian-nominated Jino to Marī (2019), and, Walang Kasarian and Digmang Bayan which has been banned from this year’s Sinag Maynila for its too political content. A reinvigorated student of film both under the mentorship of Armando Lao and Ricardo Lee, Altarejos carefully utilizes all his learning tools and secures them in creating what he advocates as Cinema of the Social Consciousness.