While you may marvel at the lush woods, Bagane Fiola seeks to bring viewers deeper into the struggles of an indigenous family coping with changes in their environment in his 2016 QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema) entry, Baboy Halas, Wailings in the Forest.
The film offers an experience with a family, one of the last forest people yet to adjust to the lifestyle of the more sociable tribes in the plains.
Fiola is a storyteller who has an eye for details. In the film, he showed the tribe in their natural habitat and captured the richness of the Mindanao wild. The result is a visually engaging film that celebrates the beauty of nature and the complexity of human life.
The Circle Competition entry was mostly shot against the backdrop of Maharlika in the Marilog District.
“The trees of Maharlika were saved from logging. We are very lucky to still have the Maharlika,” he says.
Marilog, a popular Davao City destination known for its cool air and beautiful sceneries, is also home to the indigenous group, the Matigsalug.
Fiola shares that his movie will feature a Mindanaoan cast complete with the participation of the lumads from the Matigsalug tribe.
QCinema 2016 will take place from Oct. 13 to 22 at four venues –Trinoma, Gateway, Robinson’s Galleria, and UP Town Center. It will also hold special film seminars at the QCX, the new museum complex at the Quezon Memorial Circle.
For more information, visit www.qcinema.ph.