UC San Diego

Combining Filipino American Studies, Black Studies, and Film Studies, Made in the Philippines explores the convergence of the blaxploitation subgenre and the co-production of exploitation films in the Philippines for the US market during the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship (1965-1986). This dissertation centers Filipino perspectives to illuminate what I call transnational collaborations—mutually beneficial yet unequal political and cultural arrangements between institutions and individuals shaped by US empire—between the Philippine and US film industries in the postcolonial period. Challenging the colonial narrative of “Filipino B-movies,” this dissertation is among the first to examine blaxploitation films in the Philippines and focus on Filipino labor and location in this film production history. I analyze four US-Philippine blaxploitation films directed by Filipino filmmakers Gerardo de Leon, Eddie Romero, and Cirio Santiago starring Black American actresses to highlight the cultural exchange embedded within the films and their production. Blending US and Philippine filmmaking practices and aesthetics influenced by Black Power and Filipino culture, these collaborations enabled subtle critiques of imperialism, dictatorship and anti-blackness, creating space for unintentional forms of resistance at the margins of cinema.

This interdisciplinary project engages oral narratives of Filipino film workers and archival research on the Philippine film industry during the Marcos era, as well as interviews of blaxploitation icon Pam Grier. Their collective stories reveal how Filipino filmmakers and Black actresses navigated both film industries’ limitations, repressive conditions of martial law, and anti-blackness with a sense of agency on and off screen. Filipino filmmakers brought their expertise and postcolonial perspectives to the films’ production, unwittingly creating films that perpetuated yet also challenged racial ideologies through representations of Black women, Filipino people, and the Philippines. Contesting the common perception that blaxploitation films are confined to US urban spaces, the transnational dimensions of blaxploitation allow scholars and audiences to rethink the subgenre’s development and definition and recognize Filipino filmmakers’ contributions to Black cinema. In doing so, this dissertation fills gaps in Philippine cinema and Black cinema studies, highlighting connections between 1970s Filipino and Black cultural productions. Overall, this dissertation contributes to understandings of shared histories to help cultivate solidarity necessary for collective freedom.