Masla A Papanok
by Gutierrez Mangansakan II
Historical Drama | 85mn | Mindanao (Davao/Maguindanao/Gensan) | 2018
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
Opening Short
Tokwifi
by Carla Pulido Ocampo
Narrative Fiction – Magic Realism | 20mn | Bontoc, Mountain Province, North Luzon | 2019
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
Ngilngig Asian Fantastic Film Festival 