GMA I-Witness celebrates 14th anniversary, releases new DVD

CEBU, Philippines - The country’s most awarded and longest-running documentary program, I-Witness, celebrates its 14th anniversary with the release of “The Best of I-Witness Volume 6.”

The DVD compilation includes eight documentaries from four of the country’s top documentarists – Kara David, Jay Taruc, Sandra Aguinaldo and Howie Severino.

Howie travels to some of the poorest rural areas in the country and walks barefoot with children who can’t even afford to buy new slippers in Saplot; while in Daloy, Howie and his team join a kayak journey traversing the water trail from the rapids of Pagsanjan to Manila Bay.

The documentary Gintong Putik, recipient of the 2011 Golden Screen TV Awards for Outstanding Documentary Program, features Kara’s search for a boy she met ten years ago in the mining town of Paracale in Camarines Norte.  In Liwanag sa Dilim, hope lights up for the Mangyans as Kara journeys back to Sitio Dyangdang in Bansud, Oriental Mindoro to help provide solar energy.

Jay unveils the poignant stories of burn victims agonizing over long-healing wounds at the Mindanao Burn Center in Lapnos, winner of the Silver World Medal for Documentary at the 2012 New York Festivals. And in Ahon, he revisits Cagayan de Oro during the aftermath of Typhoon Sendong to witness inspiring tales of survival even in the darkest of storms.

In Pasan-Pasan, Sandra shares the stories of families who redefine the word “burden” in a tale of unconditional love and dedication to their physically-challenged children.  The documentary was recognized as the Outstanding Televised Feature on Youth and Education in the 2011 Lasallian Scholarum Awards and as the Best Educational Program in the 2011 Catholic Mass Media Awards.  In Kalam, Sandra gets to experience how it is to go hungry as she lives for three days with one of the poorest families in Western Samar.

Manufactured by GMA Records and GMA Marketing and Productions Inc., “I-Witness Volume 6”—with English subtitles– is available in all Odyssey, SM Music and Video, Astrovision, and Astroplus branches nationwide. (FREEMAN)