By Rikka Villarez
Comedic drama Tokwifi directed by Carla Pulido Ocampo bagged two titles in the awarding ceremony of 16th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival last week.
The film won Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Award and Best Short Feature Film for its “magical but very convincing depiction of how women are boxed into stereotypes by television and how cultural communities are reduced into backward primitivism by the media.”
According to Ocampo, the culture of indigenous Filipinos has always been set aside and even now, are still misunderstood. She offered the NETPAC award as a gift for those in the said situation.
“I have a favorite Bontoc folktale about a star who went down from heaven to take a bath in a lake … a Bontoc man fell in love and married her,” she narrated.
Ocampo said that she placed a twist in this story to reflect that she was an outsider who knew little of their culture. She wanted to symbolize her insecurities as an outsider by creating a “manila version” of a star.
“Alam naman natin tayong mga Tagalog ang konsepto natin ng mga bituin ay yung mga artista sa telebisyon o sa mga pelikula so ayun, this film delves into the world of Bontocs and the world of our stars,” she explained.
Tokwifi, according to the filmmaker, was also meant to be a form of criticism on the discrimination of indigenous people.
“Why don’t we celebrate their own identity? Why do they need to fit in the standards of popular media?” she questioned.
Ocampo said that they created this 20-minute film to “run-over” these kinds of biases that rule over people’s minds.