“The bullying cannot continue”: Director follows Filipino fishermen under China’s siege | film

DDuring a televised debate in 2016, populist presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte made a typically combative statement in which he said he would personally go to Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and plant a Philippine flag there. Duterte claimed that he was ready to die a hero to keep the Chinese out of the hotly contested maritime region.

“He made millions of Filipino workers and fishermen vote for him because of that one promise,” says director Babe Ruth Villarama. As her new Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated documentary Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea reveals, that was not a promise Duterte kept. “He was making excuses that the jet ski broke down. Eventually, there was an official announcement that it was just a campaign joke. Since then, the fishermen have been really angry.”

In her film, Villarama follows fishermen as they cross what they call the West Philippine Sea, which the Philippines considers part of its exclusive economic zone. She spent 60 days photographing it, as well as recording the work of the soldiers supplying the local islands with food. It’s a difficult and dangerous life, made even more difficult by constant harassment from the Chinese Coast Guard.

Food Delivery contains beautiful underwater photographs and shots of bird colonies as Villarama patiently narrates the daily problems faced by fishermen and soldiers. They are away from their families for long periods; They have bills to pay; When he returns to shore, one of the main protagonists is shown undergoing tests for prostate cancer. In many ways it is an observational, human-interested documentary about life at sea. However, since the project’s completion in March, Villarama has found itself caught in the Chinese government’s crosshairs.

Food Delivery was suddenly pulled from the program of the CinePanalo Film Festival in the Philippines two days before its world premiere. The reason became clear when it was later selected for screening at the Doc Edge Festival in New Zealand, whose organizers received a formal request from the Chinese Consulate General in Auckland not to screen the film. The consulate general’s message, published by the festival, said the film was “full of disinformation and false propaganda, and serves as a political tool for the Philippines to pursue its illegal claims in the South China Sea.”

Villarama says the harassment faced by fishermen “cannot continue.” “The bullying, the boats being chased every week. If we want to live in a stable society, we have to respect certain borders. This 200-mile exclusive economic zone is a gift to every country. The UK has it, the US has it, the Philippines has it.”

There remains a certain tense civility between the Chinese and Philippine coast guards. This is a campaign of harassment that can include trampling and cutting ropes, but both sides try to stay away from overt physical violence. Villarama and her camera crew were on board a ship that was rammed by the Chinese Coast Guard. She expresses relief that the ship did not sink: “I’m not a great swimmer. I can float – but I’m not a great swimmer.”

Villarama previously worked as a reporter for Reuters and as a television journalist, and her 2016 documentary Sunday Beauty Queen explored the plight of female overseas Filipino workers who seek to escape their poorly paid lives of drudgery by participating in beauty pageants.

But the risks are high now. Not only are the livelihoods of those working in the fishing industry at stake, but national food security is at risk. “I did not personally ask for this. Who would want to make a film that goes against a superpower like China? But as I was presented with the truth, the lived experience of our fishermen, the very people who work with quiet dignity, and when I realized that there were actual threats to our freedom and food security, we had no choice but to embrace the story.”