A New Film on Migrant Philippine Labor
The following release from First Run / Icarus Films deals with the Philippines' second largest export product - maternal love - and how the international trade in love and care affects the women involved, their families, and ours in the West.
CHAIN OF LOVE
A Film by Marije Meerman
In the United States and Europe the demand for domestic help is increasing. In many families both parents need to earn money for economic survival. The resulting need for additional nursing and childcare has led to a worldwide shift in the areas of care and love. One of the consequences is migration: escalating numbers of women in the Third World are leaving their children to take care of children in the West.
The film shows how maternal love is becoming an important commodity in the world economy. The money Philippine women send back home is the largest source of income in foreign currency in the country, and maternal love is now the second largest export product. But there is a price to be paid, not only for the Filipinos but also by us: nobody is looking after their own children anymore, love and attention have been turned into financial transactions.
For more information about this film go to: www.frif.com/new2002/chain.html