About the filmmaker

Thank you for visiting the website of Ponce in Kimono. I'm Norman Zafra and I'm the director of this documentary film. Here's a short info about me as a way of introduction.

I am both a documentary maker and an academic. And I love straddling both worlds. I have worked as producer, writer, and director of some of the award-winning documentary programs in the Philippines such as Reporter’s Notebook and I-Witness. I also create independent documentaries. My recent short documentary film Obrero ('worker') premiered at the DocEdge International Documentary Festival in New Zealand. Its accompanying web documentary version (obrerofilm.com) won the Global Media Competition of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and received a Migration Advocacy and Media (MAM) Award from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. 

I obtained my PhD in Media, Film and Television from the University of Auckland, where I also convened and taught courses in media and communication. My academic research often straddles the border between theory and practice. I currently teach in the Department of Communication of De La Salle University (Manila). 

I am a native of Baliwag, Bulacan, Ponce's hometown. 

Read the director's statement here.

More info on normanzafra.wordpress.com.

Norman's past independent documentary films + screening history and events

• A Friend in Sight  - DocEdge (NZ), CIDFF (PH), Gawad Alternatibo (PH)

• Obrero (docu film) - DocEdge (NZ), Cinematografo (USA), Visible Evidence,  IIPPE Annual Conference

• Obrero (i-doc) - Loturak Festival (Spain), ILO Global Media Competition (Switzerland), MAM Awards (CFO)

Television (past TV shows)

• I-Witness

• Reporter's Notebook

• Front Row

• World View

• Pinoy Abroad

• Pinoy Meets World