The economic necessities that so often require Filipinos to leave the Philippines for employment are chronicled in a documentary The Learning, about four teachers who come without their families to teach school in Baltimore, Maryland. The maker of the film is Ramona Diaz, a Filipino-American living in that city who previously produced a 2003 documentary Imelda on former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, now a member of the country’s House of Representatives.
The story begins as Baltimore school officials travel to the Philippines in search of teachers. The four teachers who are the subject of the film--Dorotea Godinez, Angel Alim-Flores, Grace Amper, and Rhea Espedido--were among those the school system recruited.
Film’s focus on teachers instead of schools
Speaking at a screening of the movie June 26, 2011 during the American Film Institute’s annual Silverdocs festival in Silver Spring, Maryland, Diaz said her objective was to focus on the four teachers, not make a polemic on American public schools. The film follows the women as they prepare to say good-bye to their children, husbands, parents, siblings, and professional colleagues.
