TaraLETSdotcom's video: Cinemalaya 2018 - School Service

Details - http://www.taralets.com SCHOOL SERVICE by LUISITO IGNACIO In the Philippines, a photo of a young girl carrying a big rock and threatening to smash a car’s window amidst rush hour traffic made round online. She was high on rugby and was demanding for alms. The viral photo was even picked up by broadcast media and reported in evening news nationwide. This is her story. Maya, an 8 year old student from a remote province, is just walking home from school when school service stops beside her to ask for directions. She kindly answers with the intention to help. In return, the woman in the school service offers to take her home, and she innocently agrees so she can reach home faster. That is her one big mistake. To Maya’s horror, the service doesn’t stop at her place. And despite her pleas to be released, the driver would not listen to her. She soon realizes she has been taken, along with the other kids who are already ‘living’ inside the crammed school service. Maya finds herself hours and hours away from home, in a land foreign to her – the City of Manila. By dusk, the children are dropped off along the national highway so they can start working and begging for alms. Someone watches them from afar to make sure they don’t escape. Through the eyes of Maya, we see the conditions of these kept children, along with the other children living in the streets. All day long, they run after people, cars, buses, and jeeps, just to ask for money. They do things not fit for their age in exchange for a few coins. They do all kinds of tactics just to survive and just to have a better life. And everyday, it’s like chasing their dreams and freedom – it never happens. It is never close enough. Cinemalaya 14 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival 2018 From Aug 4-12, 2018 at the CCP theaters and select Ayala Malls Cinemas.