Justice for Alexis & Nika

This month marks the first year since Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc were murdered. Armed gunmen lay in wait and killed them in their home on Times Street, a mere eight houses away from the residence of the sitting president. It was a terrible shock to friends and family, and the larger film community as a whole.

They were both writers and film activists. Alexis wrote for his own website Criticine.com and a number of other publications, local and international.

He covered Southeast Asian cinema in general, with a focus on Filipino films. Nika was editor-in-chief of the Slovenian film journal Ekran. They met at a film festival, and their similar interests blossomed into an inter-continental romance, one fomented by email, text and instant messaging.

They would see each other again at another festival, and after a visit to one another’s home country, Alexis was able to convince Nika to move to the Philippines to be with him.

They didn’t just write about films and the industry; they championed underdogs and encouraged filmmakers. With contacts made from travels abroad they would help filmmakers, festival programmers and distributors get in touch with one another, seeking to further expose local and regional films and their creators to a wider audience.

This month’s issue of UNO is a tribute to the Alexis and Nika, by their friends and colleagues. Photos by CHRIS COSTELLOhttp://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7021/radar1b.jpg

It reflected how they were as friends: warm and generous; gregarious and passionate, but not without a sense of humor.

When I joined the editorial board of UNO magazine in January 2009, Alexis was one of the first people we wanted as a regular contributor. Some of us were friends of his; all of us were fans. He was busy for a few months, running the business he had inherited from his father’s passing two years prior, and though we had a number of articles in the planning stages, only one of his articles saw print before his untimely death.

This month’s issue of UNO is entirely in honor of Alexis and Nika. We are gratefully assisted by our cover personalities Rhian Ramos and Gaby Dela Merced, who lent their celebrity and popularity to the call for justice for Alexis and Nika.

A number of the articles are about projects Alexis and Nika supported or were affiliated with. Others are on topics they loved.

Friends of the couple, from Mia Sebastian to Lourd De Veyra, Quark Henares and Jonathan Rosenbaum, offer remembrances and tributes.

It’s been a year since the young couple were slain in their home on Times St.

One of Alexis’ pet projects — Cesar Hernando’s photos from a lifetime career in cinema — get a retrospective.

Gang Badoy recalls her experience entering the house with the police that terrible evening. Patricia Evangelista writes about the case, and how little progress there has been on that front.

Which is really why this issue was done. Why friends in the media bring up the story of their death, again, on this anniversary: to call for justice.

It has been a year and we have hardly anything to show for it. There is nothing that can replace what we lost and no way we can get them back. We cannot even tell their friends and family “We caught them; we caught the ones responsible, and they will be punished for it.” We cannot offer them that modicum of comfort. We cannot offer them justice.

This is why we remind everyone. Of what we lost, and how brutally and cruelly they were taken from us, and how there is no solace to be found. To prod some aggressive movement on the case, some progress, before the trail is unbearably cold.

Alexis and Nika were both so generous with their time and efforts, in work and in friendship; it behooves us to be generous with ours as well, to bring attention to their case and to see the killers brought to justice.

As Alexis once wrote, “There is much to repay.”

Please join us as we discuss the September issue of UNO at Fully Booked Bonifacio High St. on Sep. 20 at 6 p.m. The issue is on stands now.

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It seems only fitting that there are some awesome film-related events going on:

Cine Europa is in full swing! A fresh batch of films from the European Union to enculture our shores. Free admission as always, but be early because tickets go fast. Shang Cineplex is the venue (though I hope they’ve done something about the smell of smoke). Runs until Sept. 19.

Beginning Sept. 15 is the Kurosawa Film Festival, a project of the Japan Foundation that will see an excellent sampling of Akira Kurosawa’s films shown on the big screen (with 35mm prints!). 

Included are classics like Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Yojimbo, High & Low, and The Hidden Fortress (which Lucas raided for Star Wars). But what’s great is there’ll also be some lesser-known work of his, including his first few films!

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Ramon De Veyra blogs irregularly at http://www.thesecuriousdays.com, but is more active on Twitter.