Transit Full Trailer Video | 2013 Cinemalaya Movie Entry

Writer-director Hannah Espia reveals that she got the idea for her Cinemalaya 2013 movie entry "Transit" starring Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Mercedes Cabral, Irma Adlawan, Ping Medina, and Marc Justine Alvarez,  after talking to an OFW who was bringing home his child from Israel. In 2009, the Israeli government enacted a law that would deport the children of migrant workers if they did not fulfill certain criteria. Both Israeli and migrant workers rallied against the law that would separate parents from their children.

The film depicts the inter-connected lives of OFWs who struggle to prevent their children from being deported to the Philippines.

Lead star Jasmine Curtis Smith spent several days in Israel to shoot the film Transit. She had to be fluent in Hebrew since her character Yael was raised in Israel. Irma Adlawan portrays her mother Susan, an OFW who has been working in Israel for more than 10 years.


Ping Medina is cast as Moises, a single dad working as a caregiver in Herzliya, Israel. He decides to hide his son Joshua (Marc Justine Alvarez) from immigration police by making him stay inside the house.

One of the highlights of the movie is the recreation of a Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish rite of passage to adulthood.   

"Transit" will be shown in CCP and selected Ayala Cinemas from July 26 to August 4, 2013 as part of Cinemalaya Film Festival New Breed category.