Invited to attend the Manila Film Festival in 1983, Schroeter brought his camera. He was struck by the gap between the festival’s pomp and circumstance – including the prominent presences of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos – with the poverty of Manila’s inhabitants and the complexity of the Philippines’ history and culture. Out of these experiences, the film he shot, and archival footage, Schroeter fashions a wide-ranging essay that encompasses not only armed Filipino revolutionaries but also Ronald Reagan as both movie star and president, the Allende coup in Chile, sex tourism and Mrs. Marcos singing “Feelings.” Schroeter’s alchemical montage creates a surprisingly moving and elegantly delicate experience out of this requiem for defeated hopes and expression of solidarity.