Hulagway (Images)

By Philippine filmmaker Alvin Yapan

Produced by the Subcommission on Cultural Dissemination

of the Philippines' National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)

This two-part documentary drama features the endangered Indigenous Philippine languages of the Dupaninan Agta in Isabela and the Tandulanen Tagbanua in Palawan.

The film follows the journey of Consuelo and Robert against the backdrop of the changing ecosystem in the grasslands of Isabela, where endemic grasses are being displaced by invasive foreign species, and ends in the beaches of Palawan once inhabited by mythological crabs. As a poetic and lyrical rumination on the beauty of words, this film shows how language is indeed the soul of a culture.

Please join us for an opportunity to watch this film and engage in an important discussion about the preservation of dying Indigenous languages in the Philippines. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Alvin Yapan, facilitated by writer Merlinda Bobis.

About the Director:

Alvin Yapan is a filmmaker, novelist, and educator. His films have been recognised and screened locally and internationally, with a best digital feature win at the Cairo International Film Festival for Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe (The Rapture of Fe, 2009). His other films of note are Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (The Dance of Two Left Feet, 2011), winning in seven categories including best picture, director, and screenplay from the local critics of Gawad Urian, which then proceeded to tour South America, among other festival circuits, after getting the Circulo Precolombino de Bronce Mejor Pelicula at the Bogota International Film Festival; and An Kubo sa Kawayanan (The House by the Bamboo Grove, 2015) which won best film at the World Premieres Film Festival. His filmography has earned him his mark as a filmmaker cited for ‘cultural richness, originality, and lyricism.’ His short stories and novels have won critical praise from the Palanca Awards, the Philippine National Book Award, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Writers’ Prize. His latest novel, Worship the Body, translated into English by Randy Bustamante, will be published under Penguin SEA (Southeast Asia). With a doctoral degree in Philippine Studies, he is Associate Professor at the Ateneo de Manila University.

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