Sherad Anthony Sanchez
A small town in the Philippines is turned upside down by the arrival of a film crew that has everyone excited. Meanwhile, 13-year-old Lukas finds his own world overturned when he is told that his father is a tikbalang (half horse, half man). His father’s disappearance leaves Lukas to try to unravel the mystery of his own heritage and his own nature.
Jungle Love follows a handful of people who have disappeared into the jungle: a woman who has kidnapped her sister's child; an urbane couple and their indigenous guide; a bored and horny platoon; and a nameless tribe. Disappearance has another meaning in Sanchez’s native Mindanao, where a decades-old conflict between the government and secessionists fighting for an Islamic state has made the region infamous for its kidnappings. Sanchez took inspiration from an incident in which a friend living abroad visited an exhibition, and found a photo of him labeled as one of the disappeared. Jungle Love is permeated with this sense of the uncanny, as narratives and identities fracture and fuse into one another in the reckless, lonely places people go to escape themselves.
Documentary profiling the directors involved in the loose Philippine New Wave filmmaking movement.
Sarah is a debt collector who lives among the inhabitants of the village of Guimbal on the island of Panay. She wants to find the young man who appeared to her in a dream and goes to the island of Negros. Here, as she interacts with the inhabitants, Sarah continues her search, gathering memories of life and war, dreams, myths, legends, songs and stories that she takes part in and at times revolve around her. She is the daughter of an ancient mermaid, a revolutionary, a primordial element, a virgin who was kidnapped and hidden away from the sunlight. “The film is a retelling of fragments of the American occupation. Dialogue, shot in the Hiligaynon language, is not translated but used as a tonal guide and a tool for narration. Using unscripted scenes shot where the main character was asked to merely interact with the villagers, I discard dialogue and draw meaning from peoples’ faces, voices, and actions, weaving an entirely different story through the use of subtitles and inter-titles.”
Filmmaker John Torres describes his childhood and discusses his father's infidelities.
Gigi from Arakan Valley is a woman rebel who teaches young comrades the facets of their struggle as they remain to be in waiting after they were ambushed. In a nearby village, Junjun and his fellow soldiers take a rest. He attempts to chance upon a girl he longs for, but instead encounters a balyan/tagbawian (shaman) in a very disturbing situation. Somewhere, two kids, Abyan and Busaw, trek the forest back to their mother. Huling Balyan ng Buhi : O Ang Sinalirap nga Asoy Nila weaves the tales of rebels in waiting, playful soldiers at rest and a troubled balyan (village healer) in a very ambiguous predicament. A quandary that will usher them all to one encounter that can bring to light the questions of transcendence.
