Miko Revereza is an

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...

maker from

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

. Revereza lived in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as an

undocumented immigrant Undocumented may refer to: * ''Undocumented'' (2010 film), a horror thriller * ''Undocumented'' (2016 film), a drama short film *'' The Undocumented'', a documentary film by Marco Williams See also * Undocumented feature, in software releases * ...

; an experience which informs his work. He holds an MFA from

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

, but has no undergraduate degree. In 2021, he won the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking and his short films have been featured by the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

. ''No Data Plan'' was filmed during a cross-country train journey by Revereza and includes audio from conversations with his mother about immigration held on a burner phone. It was listed as one of the best films of 2019 by

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, d ...

's ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...

International Film Magazine,

Hyperallergic ''Hyperallergic'' is an online arts magazine, based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded by the art critic Hrag Vartanian and his husband Veken Gueyikian in October 2009, the site describes itself as a "forum for serious, playful, and radical thinki ...

'', and

CNN Philippines CNN Philippines (abbreviated sometimes as CNN PH) was a Philippine free-to-air television network owned and operated by Nine Media Corporation, together with Radio Philippines Network (RPN), under a license from Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pa ...

. The film was screened at several locations, including the Smithsonian's

National Museum of Asian Art The National Museum of Asian Art consists of the Smithsonian Institution’s two Asian art galleries, the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which are situated in connecting buildings on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. ...

and the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

. In ''Nowhere Near'', the filmmaker returns to the Philippines to reckon with a "family curse" and the legacy of imperialism. It was included in the

Marché du Film The ''Marché du Film'' (), also called Cannes Film Market, is an annual marketplace for films and one of the world's largest film markets. Established in 1959, it is held annually in conjunction with the Cannes Film Festival. In the 2020s, mor ...

de Cannes Docs Showcase. It received funding through a Purin Pictures grant, the Open City Documentary Festival's Assembly Grant, and the

International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

's Hubert Bals Fund Bright Future Award.

Selected filmography

* ''Biometrics'' (2020) * ''Nowhere Near'' (2020) * ''No Data Plan'' (2019) * ''Distancing'' (2019) * ''Disintegration 93–96'' (2017) * ''Droga!/Drug!'' (2014)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Revereza, Miko Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Filipino film directors Bard College alumni Filipino documentary filmmakers