Ray Roa Alonso /Independent Dance Artist- Curator

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"Sunday beauty queen" Documentary by Baby Ruth Villarama

 Sunday Beauty Queen is a 2016 Philippine documentary film directed by Baby Ruth Villarama and follows a group of expatriate domestic workers in Hong Kong as they prepare to take part in an annual beauty pageant.

On February 2015, I attended my sister in Laws wedding in Hong Kong and stayed there for over a week exploring the city with my in laws. One Sunday I decided to go out into the city alone whilst the rest of the family had plan a day trip to the Races. It was my first time in Hong Kong but knew a little about the city as my aunt worked there as a nanny for many years in the 80's and 90's. I came across thousands of mainly women hanging out in the park, subway, bridges singing and dancing and of course eating which us filipinos like to do when we are relaxing. I came across a Jollibee and street food where I sat and ate dinuguan (pork Blood stew) and even manage to get a hair cut in a packed room full of women getting their hair rebonded. I wondered why there was so many of then in one place, which I later found out that the workers are often not allowed in their employers homes in their day of, which is a Sunday.  This film really stuck a cord as it gave a much detailed insight on what I experienced that day from an observers point of view.

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