Nervous Translation

Shireen Seno (*1983) is a striking voice in new Philippine independent cinema. Her second film NERVOUS TRANSLATION takes on the perspective of a child who lives in her own world. Shy eight-year-old Yael is often alone. She cooks in a dolls’ house kitchen, is fascinated by a magic pen and secretly listens to cassettes of recordings of the voice of her father, who has emigrated to Saudi Arabia. Among the jump cuts and the 80s soundtrack, a visit from her globalized family, TV news reports after the end of the Marcos dictatorship and a typhoon bear witness to the outside world.