MANILA, Philippines?Two young Filipino filmmakers have shown the world what real democracy means in a three-minute video on YouTube.

?Long Live the Fearless Man? by Aissa Peñafiel and Miguel Ocampo is one of six winners of the Democracy Video Challenge, launched online and at the United Nations on Sept. 15, 2008. The competition invited citizens around the world to engage in an online dialogue on the nature of democracy by submitting video shorts that completed the phrase ?Democracy is...?

In an interview with the Inquirer on Thursday, Peñafiel and Ocampo said they wanted their video to have a ?truly Filipino message? and not just limited to the presidential elections and Charter change.

?As filmmakers, we want our films to be socially relevant,? said Peñafiel, who just graduated from the University of the Philippines with a film degree.

Inquirer columnist Michael Tan recently described Peñafiel and Ocampo?s video, which he saw on YouTube, as having ?no rhetoric or platitudes about democracy. Instead, it questions the way democracy is often operationalized, and how hunger and despair and fear and greed engulf and distort the practice of democracy. There is only one actor, and his body becomes a canvas for expressing the frustrations and tensions around democracy.?

Not their first

This is not the first time the two filmmakers have earned praise for their work.

Their short film, ?Manong Maong,? a five-minute, 20-second animation movie, was one of four Filipino entries in the last Cannes Film Festival, including Brillante Mendoza?s ?Kinatay,? which won for him the Best Director award.

The video ?Long Live the Fearless Man? was shot in black and white and features a naked man with words about democracy written on different parts of his body. There is a voice-over narration on what democracy is not and should be.

?We shot it in black and white so it would be simple yet stark. We wanted to show that no one can take away your democratic rights,? said Ocampo, who is still in school, also in UP.

?Even if someone takes away your voice, no one, no politician or leader, can speak for you,? Peñafiel said, adding that they plan to make a full-length film soon.