Blanka

Blanka is a moving story of the friendship between a street urchin and a blind musician. Blanka is a young girl living on the streets of Manila in the Philippines, living as a pickpocket. She is strong and resourceful, but misses having a mother. Blanka has heard about children being bought and sold - why not then buy herself a mother? In that case, she is going to need more money… She joins forces with the blind guitarist Peter, who leads a quiet and lawful existence as a street musician. But Blanka’s criminal past is close by, ready to catch up with her. And is it really possible to buy somebody’s love?

Blanka is held together by an exceptional cast of non-professional actors, picked off the streets of Manila. It shows how children in other countries live their lives in poverty in a manner that is respectful, positive and easy for young children to understand.

Kohki Hasei is a Japanese filmmaker, born in 1975, who has spent a lot of time in the Philippines. After finishing high school in 1994, Hasei moved from Okayama to Tokyo. His first documentary W/O (2001) was selected for the Rotterdam film festival, the Austrian Viennale and the New York MOMA festival. In 2007, he directed the documentary Godog, which about follows children living atop a rubbish heap in Manila. Blanka is his first feature film.