K'na the Dreamweaver: Always dream. Have faith.

"Kenbong nawa hu u, K'na!" - Silaw
"Kenbong nawa hu sedo u, Silaw!" -K'na

How can you conquer love over tradition? Cinemalaya presents not only one of these so-called New Breeds of independent films in the traditional and already-exceptional ways, but also showcases the everyday life of Filipinos, children of the streets (batang kalye), soldiers, old people in love and of course tribal people in the most exquisite and simplest cinematography.

The fine golden red fibers of abaca dancing with the wind in the trees of the south tribe was the most unforgettable scene I encountered in the ending of the movie K'na the Dreamweaver and ultimately made me cry after five months of total remorse. The movie revolves around a libun boi (young tribal princess) K'na (Mara Lopez)who is destined to be the most skilled dream weaver in the south tribe. As a child, she preferred playing outside and only watching her beloved grandmother Be Lemfay (Erlinda Villalobos) weave with precision and accuracy the fine abaca threads to the t'nalak weaving machine. For a back up explanation, dream weavers in the T'boli tribe can only weave the best t'nalak through their unique dreams. However young K'na, until adolescence has not been granted any dreams by the god of dreams Fun Dalu.

I was transported to the divine paradise of Lake Sebu as the movie perfectly showcased the traditions and tourist places of the province along the way. The art of dream weaving, the Datu decision-making meetings, the sung stories and legends of the peoples while the men re-enact them, the color symbols of hulo (red), hitem (black) and bukay (white), the traditional way during a death of an important dream weaver, the senga nga, or the songs sung by the parents and grandparents of the children as they sleep, the arranged marriage of two people and finally, the passionate dream of a strong woman to become a full-fledged dream weaver.

The story is a spiral loop of themes revolving around the importance of the dream weaving industry in Lake Sebu, where Be Lemfay represents the living National Artist Lang Dulay. The story is also infused with the moving love story of Silaw (RK Bagatsing) with K'na, who would always leave a string of fine golden red fibers outside K'na's house and tie them in the trees.

The conflict started with the unending warring period of the north and south tribes, where both datus (Nonie Buencamino and Bembol Roco), after the death of the last living witness of the war Be Lemfay, decided to make peace to each other to save their people. However the price they have to pay was to betroth K'na, the south tribe's daughter with Kagis (Alex Medina), the north tribe's only son. This leads to the end of the love story of K'na and Silaw. I once thought that similar to the eloping of the two lovers in both tribes which has started the war for generations, both K'na and Silaw would do the same thing. However, during an attack of the south to the north, Kagis saved Silaw, making the libun boi (princess) decide to marry Kagis because she not only saved his life, but also hers.

In the end both K'na and Kagis married to keep the peace from both tribes, where K'na bid her goodbyes to her datu father and live with his husband in the north. By the time she had to return to her tribe to offer her people the t'nalak given to him by Silaw in her dream, she discovered that her lover has already died, but left the tribe a legend both K'na and her people shall never forget: the fine strings of red fiber hanging in every tree in the south tribe.

Directed and written by Ida Anita Q. del Mundo, the story is truly an epic movie not only trying to convey a story but a tradition of generations which the normal Filipino has not yet seen. Cast includes Mara Lopez, Ramon Khino (RK) Bagatsing, Alex Vincent Medina, Anthnony (Nonie) Buencamino, Rafael (Bembol) Roco Jr. and Erlinda Villalobos. Special recognition to these actors and actresses who truly showcased the authentic linguistic register of the T'boli language althrough out the movie.

Cinemalaya truly showcases a new wave of independent short films and new breeds this August that you should not definitely miss. All thanks to the "Kidlat Tahimik" or the Father of Philippine Independent Cinema, Eric de Guia, who pioneered and devoted with sheer devotion his time to independent films and who advocates "indigenous and avante-garde concepts" in film making, which garnered a ton of recognition of Filipino independent films around the world since its inception.

New breed Full Length Films also include #Y, 1st ko si 3rd, Bwaya, Children's Show, Dagitab (Sparks), Mariquina, Ronda, s6parados, and Sundalong Kanin. Director's Showcase include Hustisya, The Janitor, Kasal, Hari ng Tondo and Asintado. Finally, the New Breed of Short Films include Asan si Lolo Me?,  Tiya Bening, Mga Ligaw na Paru-paro, The Ordinary Things We Do, Padulong sa Pinuy-anan (Going Home), Indayong ng Nayatamak, Lola, Nakakabinging Kadiliman, Ina-Tay and Eyeball. 

"A decade of  connecting dimensions" the Philippine Independent Film Festival 2014 lasts from August 2 to August 10, where the said films will be shown in CCP, Greenbelt 3, Trinoma, Alabang Town Center and Fairview Terraces. 

This spectacular program is principally sponsored by Cinemalaya and Cultural Center of the Philippines, and includes Sony, PEP, Canon, Cinema EOS, Pixma, Jamtrx, ANC, GMA, GMA News TV, Development Council of the Philippines, Manila Bulletin, 96.3 Easy Rock, DZRH, Yes! FM 101.1, MBC, spot.ph, Cross Over, Inside Showbiz, Malaya Business Light, PhilStar, United Star Alliance Member, Central Digital Lab, BusinessWorld, HerWord.com, Grab Taxi, ACPI, B+C  Design, MadHouseMini, Daily Tribune, Traders, Diamond Hotel, Eurotel, M&S, Debenhams, Busieness Mirror, View, Graphic, PSID, 2GO Express, SkedSearch, SQ Film Laboratories, GMovies, Aristrocrat, Kusina Teatro, Beauty, Yahoo!, Gourmet Farms, DTI and Citem among others.

Thank you very much to my T'boli informant Ms. Michelle Gandam-Gan for inviting me watch this epic film!

Hugo Cabret: Forgetting names, remembering legacies

The legacy you offer to the world is not measured by how people remember it, but by how it has changed others; how it has changed the world for the better.

First glimpse of how the camera zoomed its way through the white smoke of the train station, I remembered Platform 9 3/4. It also reminded me of Ratatouille with that unmistakable and classical instrumental music at the beginning of the movie that immediately took us to Paris. Most of all, it reminded me of my childhood passion for adventures, only this time I made my way through the magical lair of a 12-year-old orphan behind the walls of Gare du Nord station with a perfect view of the lovely Eiffel Tower.

Truly Academy Award winning, Hugo Cabret (2011, directed by Michael Scorsese) is the movie that has offered more than our childhood adventures and the beauty of Paris; it also showered the audience--both young and old--with life's important lessons on perseverance, on realizing our purpose in life and on having faith in our dreams and achievements even though people have long forgotten them. The package also came with the story on the birth of the art of film that made me appreciate movies all the more.

Based on the children's novel entitled "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick, the story starts with orphan boy and clockmaker Hugo (Asa Butterfield, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas) living behind the walls of a train station alone and stealing food for survival after his father, also a clockmaker (Jude Law) died in a fire at the museum where he worked and his Uncle Claude left him to watch the clocks at the train station.

A mysterious automaton was the only memory he had left of his father and was determined to fix it thinking it would a message from his old man. With the help of a friend, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Montez, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series) who's crazy about adventures and had longed to experience one "at least outside of books", Hugo fixed the automaton and accidentally entered a "story of sadness" mysteriously webbed with the memories of his father, a movie of a moon hit by a rocket, magic tricks and even the automaton itself. As they discovered it was the story of the old toy maker Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley), a "broken" but legendary filmmaker and magician who was long forgotten by the world, their adventure became a quest to "fix" the old man that would also change their lives forever.

What I loved most about the film is that every character, even the station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) has his own insightful story to tell and share. We eventually learned he was also an orphan and has experienced the cruelty of the people in the orphanage that's why he hates kids like Hugo. Among all these we have seen each story unfold through the eyes of the 12-year-old orphan as he entertains himself with the daily whereabouts of the people at the train station (ie the love story of the station inspector and Lisette (Emily Mortimer) and of Monsieur Frick (Richard Griffith) and Madame Emilie (Frances de la Tour)).

 

It's not simply a children's movie revisiting the exciting real-life adventures and fantasy dreams made of witches and mermaids and an ambitious voyage to the moon; through this movie I was able to reflect on how Georges Melies lost his faith in his films when the people had lost interest in them. Deep sadness, maybe even leading to depression because the world seemed to have forgotten you may truly be part of human nature, but as George lingered on it for too long, he has deprived himself of the better side of his works: that even though most people have forgotten him, some people's lives were changed because of his works. Hugo had found his way home through George's automaton, and even the life and childhood of Professor Rene Tabard (Michael Stuhlbarg) revolved around Melies' inspirational works.

 

Being forgotten may be part of the sad journey as one eventually says goodbye to the ever-changing world, but maybe no one is really ever forgotten: what one leaves as a legacy, how he passionately shared and taught it to others, will inevitably be passed on to the younger generation, and so even though people have forgotten his name, his legacy will forever be remembered.