CINEMALAYA this year feature two films on indigenous peoples: the Atis of Panay in “Tumandok” and the Kalingas in “The Wedding Dance”.
“Tumandok” reveals the struggle of indigenous people to reclaim their ancestral domain along and within the Jalaur and Pan-ay rivers in Central Panay. It features an all-Ati non-professional acting ensemble, speaking in their own language.
Directors Richard Jeroui Salvadico and Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay said the film seeks to support the community in securing their ancestral domain. The community faces several threats to their lives and territory.
The film centers on En-en, daughter of the chieftain who does the task of processing their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT). The tribe needs P500,000 to P1 million to fast-track the CADT processing.
“It aims to shed light on indigenous peoples’ ongoing struggle to protect their identity and lands. We recognize the emotional toll revisiting painful memories may take on the Atis, and we deeply admire their resilience and bravery. It represents the collective narrative of indigenous communities we’ve encountered. We see the film not as ours alone, but as a film made by and for the Atis,” the directors said.
On December 30, 2020, nine Tumandoks were killed and 16 more arbitrarily arrested in an operation conducted by the police and military in various Tumandok communities in Tapaz, Capiz and Calinog, Iloilo.
On February 28, 2021 Tumandok village chief Julie Catamin was shot dead while driving home in Calinog after receiving several threats.
Three days later, Atty. Angelo Karlo Guillen, one of the legal counsels of the Tumandok members who were arrested in December 2020, was stabbed in the head and his laptop and documents were stolen by the suspects who remain unidentified and at large.
The killings and attacks are part of an appalling global trend of threats, harassment, criminalization, and murder of people who stand up for indigenous peoples’ rights and the environment, including surveillance, trumped-up search warrants, raids, arbitrary detentions, and red-tagging (labeling individuals and groups as communists or terrorists) before killing them.
As one Ati once said: “Tell us where the end of the earth is, and we will go there to live in peace, untouched.”
The directors hoped that “viewers see that the story of the community is not just a narrative of the past but a living, breathing testament to the ongoing battle for justice and recognition.”
“The Wedding Dance” is a Cordillera love story set in the 1940s, where a Kalinga woman struggles over the invitation of her husband, a warrior of the village, to attend a wedding dance.
It is based on a short story by Amador Daguio about two Kalingas – Awiyao and Lumnay who have been married for seven years and have been unable to have a child.
Awiyao felt insecure and disrespected by the men in his tribe. He must marry someone else so that he can have a son to carry on his name, and left Lumnay to marry another woman named Madulimay.
Awiyao came home to his wife Lumnay to ask her to attend his new wedding dance, an invitation that stirred memories of joy, pain, and emptiness.
Lumnay did not want separation and begged Awiyao to ignore the tribe’s tradition and to stay. She refused the things he offered her except for beads worth 20 fields.
“There has been struggles for the stand of women in a patriarchal community. It is aimed to show the struggles of women who are unable to bear children when the legacy of a man (their husband) is dictated by how his name will continue through his heirs,” according to film director Julius Lumiqued.
He added: “The invitation opens memories of love, hate, pain, and their struggles to be with each other, during a time when what will bind a marriage is the pressure of a patriarchal community to expect couples to have children for one’s legacy.”
The main cast include Mai Fanglayan (“Tanabata’s Wife”) as Lumnay and Arvin Balageo (“14 Days, Montañosa Film Festival”) as Awiyao.
In 2006, “Batad” is the story of a boy (Alchris Galura) from Ifugao obsessed with owning a pair of everyday trekking boots. It won Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Galura.
In 2022, Zig Dulay’s “Black Rainbow” is a film about the journey of a 12-year-old Aeta in Porac, Pampanga for his education. It won best film, best screenplay and the NETPAC award in the short film category in Cinemalaya 2022.
It is a tale about an Aeta who dreams that the first step to a better life is through education. He chases his dream of going to school to learn how to read the legal documents given to their community and to understand why they are being forced to give up their ancestral lands to give way for mining.
***
“Peyups” is the moniker of the University of the Philippines.
***
Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the Seafarers’ Division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan Law Offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 09175025808 or 09088665786./PN
