“A democracy of images” John Gianvito in conversation

Slow-paced but urgent, John Gianvito’s incendiary nine-hour diptych For Example, The Philippines is a stunning feat of political filmmaking. Emotionally gripping, historically revelatory, and at times vividly beautiful, this indictment of American imperialism and militarism, and the toxic environmental footprint it has left in many parts of the globe, intertwines a previously submerged history of the Philippine-American war with searing contemporary footage of impoverished families confronted with appalling health problems and birth defects due to working on, or living near, US military facilities. Vapor Trail (Clark) (264 mins, 2010) centres on an air base and Wake (Subic) (277 mins, 2015) a naval base, both now abandoned parts of what was, until the Gulf war, America’s largest overseas military presence.