Lumapit Sa Akin, Paraiso (Come to Me Paradise) Stephanie Comilang
Lumapit Sa Akin, Paraiso (Come to Me Paradise) is a science fiction documentary by Stephanie Comilang that uses the backdrop of Hong Kong and the various ways in which the Filipina migrant worker occupies Central on Sundays. The film is narrated from the perspective of Paraiso, a ghost played by a drone who speaks of the isolation from being uprooted and thrown into a new place. Paraiso’s reprieve comes when she is finally able to interact with the women and feel her purpose, which is to transmit their vlogs, photos, and messages back home. During the week she is forced back into isolation and is left in an existential rut.
The film uses Hong Kong’s dystopian maze like structures that the Filipina migrants re-imagine and focuses on the beauty of care-giving but also explores how technology is used as a pivotal way for the women to connect – to each other but also to loved ones. Raising questions around modern isolation, economic migration and the role of public space in both urban and digital forms, the film transcends its various component parts to offer a startling commentary on the present, from the point of view of the future.
About the Artist
Stephanie Comilang is a Filipina-Canadian artist living and working in Toronto and Berlin. Her documentary based work looks at the cultural and social factors that shape an environment. She studied fine art at the Ontario College of Art & Design. Recent screenings and exhibitions include Asia Art Archive in America in New York and S.A.L.T.S in Basel. She has upcoming exhibitions as part of DGTL FMNSM in Dresden, Germany, in Montreal at Dazibao and at Artspeak in Vancouver.
