How Long Is “Mahal, 2017”?

(Mahal, 2017) is an auto-ethnographic experimental documentary composed of shot and donated footages about a millennial ilustrado and her life as a scholar from the ‘Third World’ being confronted with ‘First World’ experiences. It tackles issues of identity, displacement, the spectre of comparison, 2nd class citizenship, nationality and the privileged position of belonging in the academe, all disguised in the everyday struggles of sustaining a long distance relationship. Seen from the point of view of the one who writes to a lover left behind, (Mahal, 2017) serves as a reference to the daily battles of a scholar who is burdened with the choice of reconciling the need to find solutions to the social problems of her country and the desire to live a reactionary life with the person she loves.