With the onset of technology, a lot of films made today lack substance, as they rely on big stars, high-budget sets and mind-blowing special effects. This is the main reason also why independent films are a refreshing change—as it does not strain our eyes to computer-generated images, but makes our emotions feel and brains think.
This year, the Filipino film, Busong (Palawan Fate), directed by Auraeus Solito, was invited to be part of the Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF). A celebration of the best in independent and world cinema, MVFF brings together a community of filmmakers and film lover in Mill Valley, San Rafael and beyond to experience amazing new films in the beautiful environment of San Francisco’s Bay Area.
“We actually received an e-mail invitation by Mill Valley Film Festival to join,” said Jong de Castro, executive producer of Busong during an interview with Asian Journal. “They said ‘we were moved by your film.”
Solito and de Castro have known each other since their first film project in 2009, a LGBT film, Boy. Solito’s first feature, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros) won 15 international awards including three at the Berlinale (The Teddy, International Jury Prize at the Kinderfest and Special Mention from the Children’s Jury of the Kinderfest). It also the first Philippine film nominated for Best Foreign fim at the Independents’ Spirit Awards in the US and has been shown in more than 50 film festivals around the world.
And Busong is not far behind in being noticed internationally, as it was an official selection at the Quinzaine des Realisateurs (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight) last May. Just last week, the film won the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) International Critics Prize at the Eurasia International Film Festival in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
“Busong conveys the (Palawan) native concept of instant karma,” explained de Castro. “The film is something new and unique, and resonates the universal message of environmentalists, and shows tribal and political implications.”
Although the title’s translation is more of “fate” than karma, in subtitles, the word “busong” remains the same for its viewers to discover its meaning as the film progresses. The indigenous Palawanon concept of fate or instant karma, Busong shows that what you do to nature, you do to yourself.
The story does not really center on just one person,
but links each person’s tale to another. Punay, (played by actress Alessandra de Rossi) who was born with wounds in her feet, cannot step on the earth. Her brother, Angkadang (Rodrigo Santikan), carries her with a hammock, as he searches the changing landscape of Palawan hoping to find a healer. Along the way, Angkadang meets different people to help him carry Punay—Ninita (Bonivie Budao), a woman looking for her husband, Lulong (Dax Alejandro), the fisherman who lost his boat, and Aris (Clifford Banagale), a young man who is searching for himself.
The film is divided into three landscapes in Palawan, an island on the southwestern area of the Philippines: Forest, Sea and Mountain. In the forest, they meet Ninita who helps Angkadang carry Punay. Ninita relates her story of how she searched for her husband Tony in the forest through the sound of his chainsaw. Ninita’s husband is an illegal logger who cut the sacred Amugis tree, which falls on him. Ninita brings Tony’s body to the healer Claring who succeeds in bringing him back to life for a while but he eventually dies. Ninita’s husband has met his busong. Angkadang asks Ninita to bring them to Claring.
They see the islet of Minan Claring but the tide is high and they cannot swim because the saltwater will hurt Punay’s wounds. They meet Lulong, the fisherman, who lost his boat and son. He helps Angkadang and Punay, and tells them his story—how his boat was confiscated when he fished in a private area. He and his son, Toti, were left in the middle of a sandbar. Fortunately, Lulong knows the name of the stonefish so he and his son are protected from its poison as they cross the sandbar. The foreign owner of the fishing area that once belonged to the Palawan people humiliated Lulong and took his boat away. While taking a dip in the water, the owner steps on a stonefish, meeting his busong.
When Angkadang and Punay reached the islet, Claring said she cannot heal her and suggested that they climb the highest mountain of Palawan—the Mantalingahan—where the great healers live. On their way, they meet Aris, who was once a shaman’s apprentice but left for the city. He was told he could not become a shaman. But as Punay sees a mountain bleeding from a nickel mine, Aris heals her wounds and transforms them into butterflies.
Initially intended to be just a short film, Solito changed his mind after doing a segment and decided to make it a whole feature. Fortunately, Cinemalaya Foundation funded the rest of the film. Busong is part of a trilogy, de Castro said. There are other two future films, Delubyo (Deluge) and Sumbang (Origin).
Busong (Palawan Fate) will be screened at the Sequoia Theatre in Mill Valley on October 8 at 11am and at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael on October 10 at 7pm. For tickets and/or more information log on to www.mvff.com.
For more information on Busong, log on to http://busongpalawanfate.com.
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