“Lola Divas,” a documentary by Abi Prieto, will be screened at the San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural Center in Tarzana, California, on Oct. 22, at the Filipinos On Film festival.
The documentary is Prieto’s thesis film for her Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Filmmaking course at the New York Film Academy. She finished her film last year, and it was screened at Warner Bros. Studios in September 2015.
The filmmaker heard about her subjects, the Lola Divas group, many years prior to making documentaries. Prieto started a crowdfunding campaign during preproduction in March 2015 and eventually reached her goal. Filming pushed through in the Philippines in June 2015.
“I’m doing this to pay tribute to the oldest drag queens in Manila,” Prieto said. “They opened my eyes and made me realize what it means to have passion in whatever we do in life.”
The four members of Lola Divas are Mama Bobby, Mama Roming, Lola Bong and Annie.