Miko Revereza

Nowhere Near is a poetic memoir exploring stateless identity through the lens of an exile returning to an estranged homeland. The film begins with an investigation into my family curse – a curse that followed us for generations, rooted in the soil of my grandmother’s coastal province of Pangasinan. My ancestors had once ruled the land they inherited from Spanish colonizers. It is a land still bearing the remnants of colonial violence – first by Spain, then America, then between ourelves. This wandering psychogeographical journey encapsulates the seeming impossibility of returning home. I am making this film because through the transformative process of filmmaking. I believe I can lift the curse from my family and bridge our disconnection through borders.

An island off the pacific coast of Mexico. There is no one in sight, but we find traces of a bustling past. Interwoven into the soundscape and amorphous space of what remains, the past and future cross paths and we as spectators are invited to join on a journey beyond time.

Shot on 16 mm and in color, Distancing documents the logistics and poetics of Miko Revereza’s decision to leave the United States and return to the Philippines.

The director turns his own fingerprints into ink stains on a film reel.

A voiceless narrator rehashes details about his mother’s affair as he crosses the United States by train. “Mama has two phone numbers. We do not talk about immigration on her Obama phone. For that we use the other number with no data plan.” The linear train ride moving from Los Angeles to New York diverges into unruly directions of consciousness. A multiplicity of voices share thoughts, dreams and histories evoking images far away from the enclosed spaces of this trains interior. While capturing these landscapes and interiors through his lens, the moving images evidently illustrate an undocumented subjectivity, a site of precarious movement, migration and fugitivism in the US.

A voiceless narrator rehashes details about his mother’s affair as he crosses the United States by train. “Mama has two phone numbers. We do not talk about immigration on her Obama phone. For that we use the other number with no data plan.” The linear train ride moving from Los Angeles to New York diverges into unruly directions of consciousness. A multiplicity of voices share thoughts, dreams and histories evoking images far away from the enclosed spaces of this trains interior. While capturing these landscapes and interiors through his lens, the moving images evidently illustrate an undocumented subjectivity, a site of precarious movement, migration and fugitivism in the US.

A voiceless narrator rehashes details about his mother’s affair as he crosses the United States by train. “Mama has two phone numbers. We do not talk about immigration on her Obama phone. For that we use the other number with no data plan.” The linear train ride moving from Los Angeles to New York diverges into unruly directions of consciousness. A multiplicity of voices share thoughts, dreams and histories evoking images far away from the enclosed spaces of this trains interior. While capturing these landscapes and interiors through his lens, the moving images evidently illustrate an undocumented subjectivity, a site of precarious movement, migration and fugitivism in the US.

A voiceless narrator rehashes details about his mother’s affair as he crosses the United States by train. “Mama has two phone numbers. We do not talk about immigration on her Obama phone. For that we use the other number with no data plan.” The linear train ride moving from Los Angeles to New York diverges into unruly directions of consciousness. A multiplicity of voices share thoughts, dreams and histories evoking images far away from the enclosed spaces of this trains interior. While capturing these landscapes and interiors through his lens, the moving images evidently illustrate an undocumented subjectivity, a site of precarious movement, migration and fugitivism in the US.

Living in the USA illegally for over 20 years, Miko Revereza reflects on his family's relocation from Manila to Los Angeles in this introspective essay film. Patching together self-portraiture and home-movie footage, his sombre yet resolute voice-over contemplates the weight of postcolonial history and obstructed futures on diasporic identities.

Living in the USA illegally for over 20 years, Miko Revereza reflects on his family's relocation from Manila to Los Angeles in this introspective essay film. Patching together self-portraiture and home-movie footage, his sombre yet resolute voice-over contemplates the weight of postcolonial history and obstructed futures on diasporic identities.

Living in the USA illegally for over 20 years, Miko Revereza reflects on his family's relocation from Manila to Los Angeles in this introspective essay film. Patching together self-portraiture and home-movie footage, his sombre yet resolute voice-over contemplates the weight of postcolonial history and obstructed futures on diasporic identities.

Living in the USA illegally for over 20 years, Miko Revereza reflects on his family's relocation from Manila to Los Angeles in this introspective essay film. Patching together self-portraiture and home-movie footage, his sombre yet resolute voice-over contemplates the weight of postcolonial history and obstructed futures on diasporic identities.

Living in the USA illegally for over 20 years, Miko Revereza reflects on his family's relocation from Manila to Los Angeles in this introspective essay film. Patching together self-portraiture and home-movie footage, his sombre yet resolute voice-over contemplates the weight of postcolonial history and obstructed futures on diasporic identities.

Living in the USA illegally for over 20 years, Miko Revereza reflects on his family's relocation from Manila to Los Angeles in this introspective essay film. Patching together self-portraiture and home-movie footage, his sombre yet resolute voice-over contemplates the weight of postcolonial history and obstructed futures on diasporic identities.

The EDSA revolution brought an alt to a new form of experimental cinema that was emerging during the Marcos regime. This is a recovered excerpt from a video experiment by the almost unknown director Arturo Madlangbayan, as re-edited by Miko Revereza and Raya Martin.

This personal 8mm film looks at and reads Los Angeles and symbols of American popular culture through the eyes of a Filipino immigrant. Through navigational directions, by reciting a list of missing things, or by varying key themes, the film makes visible the gap between the attributes and expressions of diverse cultural identities.

Experimental short

100% Silk is an independent record label and taste-maker in the expanding and evolving world of electronic dance music. In June of 2012, four core acts from the label, LA Vampires, Ital, Magic Touch and Maria Minerva, embarked a lengthy group tour through the UK, Europe, and beyond. SILK is an expressionistic documentary that chronicles the performances, cultural environments, and global scenes through which the trip traveled. The motivating philosophies and emotions of the artists involved are visually articulated with seven fully staged dance sequences conceived and choreographed by Mecca Vazie Andrews and the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company. SILK is a music documentary, live concert experience, essayistic travelogue and above all, dance film.