Tingin film fest’s 7th edition commemorates ASEAN Month
A project of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Tingin Southeast Asian Film Festival is back this year with a roster of award-winning films that celebrate the region’s diverse myths, legends and folklore.
Supported under NCCA’s Culture and Diplomacy program, Tingin is the country’s longest-running and only film festival dedicated to Southeast Asian cinema. It aims to strengthen the ties of Filipinos and our neighbors in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region through film.
With the theme “Enchantments for a Fragile World,” the seventh iteration of Tingin, composed of six full-length films and four short, returns to the Red Carpet of the Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong City from Aug. 17 to 18. Admission is free.
“NCCA’s Culture and Diplomacy Program remains committed to familiarizing Filipino moviegoers with the multifaceted cultures and cinemas of Southeast Asia,” said Mariel Nini, head of NCCA’s Sentro Rizal International Cultural Affairs office.
Myths, legends
“Tingin is part of our mission to develop the cultural palate of film students and young moviegoers by exposing them to excellent films from the region. As part of the celebration of ASEAN Month, this year’s theme showcases the region’s myths and legends, which have striking similarities in different member states. We are extremely proud of this year’s incredible lineup of films, which have won accolades from prestigious film festivals across the world,” she added.
“Filmmakers have time and again drawn from the rich wellspring of folklore to revisit old paradigms, use it as a foil to new but harmful lifeways, or serve as anchor for a society battered by scientism,” said festival director Maya Quirino. “Some of Southeast Asia’s auteurs have built their most important work around the enduring tales and expositions of indigenous cultures still given to mystery.”
Programme
The festival will open with “The Long Walk” by Mattie Do, Laos’ first and only female filmmaker. In the film, an old hermit discovers that the ghost of a road accident victim can transport him back in time 50 years to the moment of his mother’s painful death. Do’s film premiered in the Giornate degli Autori section of the 76th Venice International Film Festival.
It will close with the Philippine theatrical premiere of Kenneth Dagatan’s “In My Mother’s Skin.” Set in the Philippines during World War II, the movie follows a young girl who finds that her duty to protect her dying mother is complicated by her misplaced trust in a beguiling, flesh-eating fairy. It premiered at the Sundance festival.
Meanwhile, the closing program will feature a talkback with the cast and crew of “In My Mother’s Skin,” including Dagatan and producers Bianca Balbuena and Bradley Liew.
One of the festival highlights is the return of Singaporean director Nelson Yeo to Tingin via “Dreaming and Dying,” which won at the Locarno Film Festival. Another festival draw is Myanmar’s Once Upon a Time There Was a Mom” by director Lin Htet Aung.
Also hotly anticipated are Kim Quy Bui’s “Memoryland” (Vietnam), Chong Keat Aun’s “Snow in Midsummer”(Malaysia), Boren Chhith’s “Golden Dragon” (Cambodia), Uruphong Raksasad’s “Worship” (Thailand), Natasha Tontey’s “Of Other Tomorrows Never Known” (Indonesia) and Hazrul Aizan’s “Part of Me” (Brunei).
This year, the festival will hold a Best Theme Attire on opening night, where the winner will walk away with a cash prize. Mechanics of the contest are posted on Tingin’s social media pages.
