About this submission

Sari-sari is a docufiction set around women-led sari-sari stores in Southern Philippines. In fictional sequences, children linger in a store, wondering where their mother has gone, capturing the frustrations and longings that surround her absence. Interwoven with these scenes are documentary fragments that follow her everyday routines of household care and storekeeping. By placing the staged alongside the real, the film reveals how maternal labor often disappears into the background of family life, even as it quietly sustains it. Sari-sari traces the tension between absence and presence, devotion and invisibility, in the intimate space of the home and store.

Jam

Creator

Jam Moreno is a filmmaker, multimedia artist, and arts administrator born and raised in the Philippines. A recent graduate of New York University Abu Dhabi with a degree in Film and Business, his work examines domesticity, consumption, and everyday resistance through the lens of Filipino material and visual culture. His recent docufiction short Sari-Sari (2025), centered on women-led micro-stores in southern Philippines, has been featured at the Binisaya International Film Festival, Sharjah Art Foundation’s Sharjah Film Platform 8, and Alserkal Avenue’s What The Food exhibition in Dubai. Alongside his independent practice, Jam has supported the production and administration of international performances, festivals, and exhibitions across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. More recently, he served as a coordinator for the Doha Film Festival 2025 in Qatar.