We all know being a parent is one of the toughest jobs in the world with having to juggle multiple things at once while making sure their children get to live their best lives. We hear them say that their children are the center of their lives. But often, we forget that parents are also individuals who have their own dreams, goals and aspirations. And sometimes, those things can conflict with the expectations of parenting. How then do the children make sense of a parent's actions that may make them feel they're not at the center of their parent's love? What of absence?
In Jethro Patalinghug's documentary, My Revolutionary Mother, he confronts his mother, Virginia Patalinghug, who left her family in the Philippines as a consequence of her activism. Told against the backdrop of a specific political era in the Philippines, we are invited to an intimate mother-and-son processing of the events that created their rift, empathize with their differing perspectives, and finally, find reconciliation and healing.
Jethro Patalinghug is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and video producer based in San Francisco, California and hails from Cebu City, Philippines. Most recently too, his mother has moved back to the Philippines. We thank them for sharing their story, vulnerabilities, and most importantly, their love. (PS. you'll need tissues to dry your eyes watching this film)
Jethro and his mom Virginia in 2021 at the airport before Virginia's flight back to the Philippines