DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 03 Nov) — Davao City’s contribution to regional cinema is its one of its kind Davao Ngilngig Asian Fantastic Film Festival. By its name “Ngilngig,” Bisaya for ghastly or macabre, one gets the idea that the festival is all about the supernatural, spooks and otherworldly things.
There is no other film festival similar to this kind, and its ninth edition, which ran from October 26 to 30, featured 34 Philippine short films and 23 Asian short films. It played to packed crowds of film lovers and aspiring filmmakers in Abreeza, Cinematheque and the indie GreenHouse,
What makes horror and fantasy popular among moviegoers? Ngilngig programmer Jay Rosas points out that these genres are legible, clearly understandable in its visual elements for the audience.
Festival organizer, director Bagane Fiola, who started the filmfest in 2013, said there is also something unique and different among Philippine and Asian short films on horror and fantasy.
Hollywood horror films often rely on jump scares, sound effects and CGI, and portray creatures such as zombies, slashers, vengeful spirits. “They present spirits and entities as bad, demonizing our ghosts, spirits, fairies, the seen and unseen creatures. This is also a metaphor to the usually marginalized seen and unseen beings,” Fiola said.
Fiola said a common thread among Asian horror and supernatural films are the elements of myths, folklore and legends. “By being ourselves (as Asians), through art and cinema, we can preserve our culture, history, myth and legends, and our being Asians.”
The festival gave out citations for short films in the Philippine and Asian categories.
The Philippine category featured an impressive list with entries coming from as far as Zamboanga and Ilocos.
Special Citation was given to the dark comedy Ang Pamilya Maguol (A Mourning Family) by Jermaine Tulbo of Davao City; the Jury Prize was given to another dark comedy Hito by Stephen Lopez of Quezon City; and Best Ngilngig Philippine Short was Bisan Abo, Wala Bilin (Even Ashes, Nothing Remains) a magic realism short by Kyd Torato of Roxas City, Capiz.
In the Asian section, special citations were given to Luzonensis Osteoporosis by Glenn Barit (Philippines) and Fishballs by Anwar Johari Ho (Malaysia). Jury Prize was given to the music comedy Sound From the Kitchen by Lee Pongsavanh (Laos). The Japanese experimental film Time of Absence was awarded Best Asian Short Film.
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The highlight of this year’s Ngilgnig is the spotlight on two Davao-made films, Kantil (Trench) by newcomer Joshua ‘Wowa’ Medroso and Salome by veteran filmmaker Gutierrez ‘Teng’ Mangansakan II.
Kantil is the first Davao film to open Ngilngig, as it was screened to a packed Abreeza cinema last October 26. The film was an entry to the recent Cinemalaya in August.
Actress Sue Prado, who won best supporting actress in Cinemalaya for her role, was impressed with the Davao audience. “Iba ang reaksyon dito,” she exclaimed during the post-screening forum.
Kantil‘s story of a fishing community in Tibungco threatened with demolition, a corrupt political clan, and a doomed love affair between the rich and the poor, resonated with the Davao audience. The story is wrapped with the supernatural, as a fisherfolk plucked a mysterious shell that resurrected a murdered young villager, and this mystery unlocks the past of Tibungco settlers linked to this shell.
Wowa Medroso is himself a Tibungco resident, and said this film is much about his village’s experience. At a young age, Medroso has won accolades from the Mindanao Film Festival and Cinemalaya.
The other film spotlight Salome is helmed by award-winning director Gutierrez ‘Teng’ Mangansakan II, whose previous works have delved on themes on Mindanao and Moro history.
Salome is slow cinema, of a search for the character Salome from the missing chapter of Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere. Gutierrez layered the film with narratives of myth, history and Mindanao. The film screened at Green House and according to Rosas, the forum discussion afterwards was very rich.
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“Horror is not just about ghosts, but it’s also our political system, history, our society, our generation,” noted Fiola on the rise of these films.
The warm response on films like Kantil and Salome show the potential of regional films to encapsulate local history, folklore and issues. Such films should be promoted more. As Davao Ngilngig finds its niche, it is nice if it expands to the broader Davao audience, who need a jolt of history and the ngilngig. #
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Tyrone A. Velez is a freelance journalist and writer.)
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