We’re proud to present the opening feature and short films of the Ngilngig Asian Fantastic Film Festival Davao 2019: Teng Mangansakan’s Masla A Papanok (Bird of History) and Carla Pulido Ocampo’s Tokwifi (Star).
Mangansakan’s film premiered at the 2018 QCinema International Film Festival as part of the Circle Competition. It bagged the Best Screenplay and Best Aural Orchestration at the Young Critics’ Circle (YCC) this year. Meanwhile, Pulido’s film is currently making waves at this year’s ongoing QCinema International Film Festival as part of the Short Film Competition.
A princess seeks refuge in a Convent to escape an arranged marriage. A young prince tries to make sense of his station. A giant bird mysteriously appears after centuries of absence. Masla A Papanok (Bird of History) mixes history, myth, memory and magic to reimagine the Spanish colonial period in Mindanao like never before.
Screening schedule: Oct. 25, 2019, 6pm, Cinematheque Davao
As Limmayug carries firewood back to his home village, something falls from the sky: a 1950s television, with a hysterical showbiz star trapped inside it. She is Laura Blancaflor. The frightened man saves the television — nay, saves Laura — from the flames of the impact. Worlds apart in their language and methods, the two try their best to engage each other. But for the sensibilities of Limmayug, a citizen of an off-the-grid mountain town, Laura’s TV talk seems too contrived — and alas, during commercial breaks, uncontrollably tactless, too.
Screening schedule: Oct. 25, 2019, 6pm, Cinematheque Davao
We’re excited to bring you the Philippine premiere of the Japanese film Mystic Shrine Maiden by Takeshi Sone, the cinematographer of the recent cult hit One Cut For the Dead. In partnership with the Japan Foundation Manila.
Toko works as a shrine maiden. Her days are full of joy as she would be called out by the village people to play or sometimes simply savor time with nothing spectacular to do. One day, Toko finds out that the village festival which she has been waiting with great anticipation will be cancelled due to an old superstition. Toko who wants to make the festival happen starts preparations against the advice of the villagers. Events unfold in an unexpected direction when she meets a strange little girl by the lake…
Screening schedule: Oct. 26, 2019, 7pm, Cinematheque Davao
A milestone for Mindanao cinema, the first full-length film to come from Cagayan de Oro will have its Mindanao premiere as part of Ngilngig Asian Fantastic Film Festival Davao!. After its international stint at the recent Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival アジアフォーカス・福岡国際映画祭, Joe Bacus’ Markado: The Moon Devourer, an eclectic mix of live action and doll animation.
A live action film combined with doll animation, the film follows the story of Sab, a transporter for local drug cartels. Amidst an imminent war between her superiors, Sab also deals with her dying grandmother’s last wish that she bear a child. When Sab learns that she’s barren, this leads her to darker practices and revelations.
Screening schedule: Oct. 27, 2019, 7pm, Cinematheque Davao
Ngilngig is excited to present the Mindanao premiere of Pam Miras’ Medusae, with its new cut currently having its world premiere at the ongoing QCinema International Film Festival. A “psychologically complex” tale of motherhood and mythology and the merging of the real and the surreal.
*In 2017, Medusae was screened as a “work in progress” at the Qcinema Film Festival of which it was a finalist for the festival’s Pylon Award. This 2019, the film in its finished form will hold its world premiere at this year’s QCinema.
A documentarist’s son goes missing when she films a story on the disappearances of the first borns in a remote island. Her search reveals the presence of a cult and an abductor who looks like her, whom her son claims to be his real mother.
Screening schedule: Oct. 28, 2019, 3:30pm, Cinematheque Davao
Halad Now
As part of Ngilngig's desire to give back to its relentless volunteers over the years, a "Halad" or Fund Our Volunteers is created to supplement expenses previously paid by the volunteers themselves during the festival.
$5.00
