11/07/2025 - Leonor Noivo weaves a bridge between the Philippines and Europe, between the current economy and the colonial past, around two women and the work of exiled house maids

“They’ll teach you how to do everything to perfection, as many things as possible in the shadows. The more invisible you are, the better your work is.” After Where the Night Stands Still [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Liryc Dela Cruz (discovered at the Berlinale), the Filipino house workers scattered all around the world are once again in the spotlight in Bulakna, the debut feature by Portuguese director Leonor Noivo (known for being the co-writer and producer of The Nothing Factory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Pinho
film profile] by Pedro Pinho), unveiled as a world premiere in the international competition of the 36th FIDMarseille.

It’s a triple-faced mirror that the filmmaker explores by intertwining the trajectories of two women, one young and thinking of exile, the other a long time immigrant in Lisbon considering returning home, with history and colonisation in the background.

“We have to dry these fish so they can be worth something for us.” We are on the island of Mindoro, in the very modest village of Pasi II where daily life revolves around fishing on simple canoes, torrential rains fall regularly and hammocks help kill time. There, a very young woman working in a fish stall on the side of the road starts to contemplate a future elsewhere (“I feel limited on this island”) despite the warnings of a colleague and friend who has already been through the experience of being a house maid abroad (“I had no one to talk to because no one spoke my language”, “I am happy with my life now, but the pain is still there”). Will she go, as numerous specialised agencies in Manila offering cutting-edge training (with dolls to learn how to care for babies and mannequins for elderly people, cooking and cleaning classes, etc., as well as golden rules to respect in order to know your place) invite her to?

On the other side of the ocean, in the Portuguese capital, another Filipino woman takes stock of her life. Formerly a journalist in her country, she has chosen economic exile as a house maid in a beautiful bourgeois villa for many years. Yet she suffers from solitude (despite her small circle of compatriots practicing the same activity as her) and from the distance with her family (her children and elderly father) who have stayed on the homeland. Will she go back?

By exposing the two sides of a problem with a very close camera and using the internal voice of the character based in Europe, Leonor Noivo shines a light, with perfect realism, on the human stakes behind economic exile. Above all, however, the filmmaker adds a much wider dimension by evoking (through scenes depicting a theatre troupe) the history of the colonisation of the Philippines written by Europeans, in complete contrast with the roots of the local culture, a past where slavery resonates with new forms of contemporary economic exploitation.

Bulakna was produced by Portuguese outfit Terratreme Filmes (which also handles international sales) and French company Barberousse Films.

(Translated from French)