Alipato At Muog (Flying Embers & A Fortress)

Initially censored with an X-rating in its home country, Alipato at Muog (Flying Embers and a Fortress), lives up to its national rating board’s determination that it “undermine[s] the faith and confidence of the people in their government and/or duly-constituted authorities.”

Burgos’ impassioned documentary about his family’s almost 20 year search for his brother Jonas, an organizer of peasant farmers who was abducted by state forces at a shopping mall in broad daylight in 2007, clarifies the irredeemable nature of the current system of Philippine government through a headstrong and wholehearted cinematic expression of love and rage.

Burgos and his close-knit team recently managed to win the country’s highest national film awards, becoming only the second documentary to be recognized as the Best Film of the year by the Filipino Academy.

According to human rights group Karapatan, a total of 1,915 individuals have been documented as desaparecidos or victims of enforced disappearance from the martial law era under Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to the current administration of his son and namesake.

One of the most important national portraits of the decade.

Sinegang.ph, Best Filipino Films of 2024