The brave legacy of Filipino nurses featured in powerful documentary
Filmmaker Michele Josue explores the untold history and legacy of Filipino nurses in the United States and their selflessness and bravery in the face of tragedy, including on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in the feature documentary “Nurse Unseen.”
Josue is the Emmy-award-winning director of “Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine” and the critically lauded Netflix Original Documentary Series “Happy Jail” about the world-famous Filipino prison inmates in Cebu dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” It won the 2021 Silver Telly Award for Series Documentary for Television.
With great skill, sensitivity, and humanity, she presents her subjects with the respect and recognition they deserve. She handles their often heartbreaking stories with tenderness and the greatest admiration for these frontline heroes.
The film opens with a nurse, wearing a white uniform and a cap, about to board a plane bound for the U.S. Splices of women’s voices can be heard enumerating some of the common reasons Filipino women went for the nursing profession: “My mom wanted me to become a nurse…that if you choose nursing it would be easy to go to the United States…America is the land of milk and honey…We wanted a different life, so this is what we chose…”
Josue tells The FilAm why she made the film.
“I began ‘Nurse Unseen’ with a quest to honor the nurses in my family and the Filipino American nurses who were sacrificing so much to care for us all during the pandemic. Through the film, we wanted our community, specifically the nurses, to feel seen and appreciated,” she said.
Over the last year and a half, that “Nurse Unseen” has traveled the film festival circuit across the U.S. Josue said, “We’ve been touched by the overwhelmingly positive responses from audience members who are learning about the history of nursing in relation to Filipinos for the first time and are inspired to not only learn more about this layered history but also to learn how they can better support our nurses, who make up a significant portion of this country’s nursing workforce.”
Reports state that “more than 150,000 Filipino nurses have migrated to the United States since the 1960s.” According to a 2021 National Geographic article, “America’s Filipino nurses remain resilient pillars at home and abroad despite pandemic.” It is estimated that 500,000 healthcare workers are of Filipino descent.
“Nurse Unseen” will kick off its North American theatrical release starting on October 4th, 2024, in New York at the Quad Cinema and Los Angeles on October 11th, 2024, at the Laemmle Glendale. Opening weekends in both markets will feature panels with the director, producers, and key subjects from the film.
“Nurse Unseen” is directed by Josue, and co-produced by Josue, Carlo Velayo, and Joe Arciaga. Josue, Velayo, and Jhett Tolentino are executive producers.
The film received the Global Health Competition Award at the Cleveland International Film Festival and Audience Awards for Best Documentary at CAAMFest, the Asian American International Film Festival, and the Boston Asian American Film Festival. The film is distributed by FANP LLC, in association with Ry Levey Film PR, Distribution & Marketing.
Additional details can be found at http://www.nurseunseen.com.
