Topic: Philippine Premiere: Ang Maicling Pelicula Nang Ysang Indio Nacional

[commentary]

This one comes highly recommended. No set date for the second screening, so I'd do my best to try to attend this one.

From Press Release

Philippine Premiere of Raya Martin's"Maicling Pelicula Nañg Ysañg Indio Nacional (O Ang Mahabang Kalungkutan ng Katagalugan)" on Independence Day


With a timely screening set on Philippine Independence Day, Raya Martin's debut feature-film, "Maicling Pelicula Nañg Ysañg Indio Nacional

(O Ang Mahabang Kalungkutan ng Katagalugan)" will have its Philippine premiere on June 12, 2006, 7:30 p.m. at Shangri-La Plaza. Having recently completed in a filmmaking residency in Paris, France, the screening of Martin's "Maicling Pelicula" is presented by Ambassade de France aux Philippines as part of the 11th French Film Festival.

One of the most ambitious Filipino films in the last decade, Martin's gorgeously photographed "Maicling Pelicula" is a collection of silent film actualities revolving around the Indio, the common man during colonial times. Set in the 1890s brewing revolution of Filipinos against Spain and follows the life of an Indio in three different phases. A loving historical tribute, it first tells the story of a child church bell-ringer torn between his duties to the Spanish state and as a Filipino, then a pubescent caught in the growing pressures of the revolution, and finally an actor in a rural community escaping his troubled soul.

Running at 96 minutes, the predominantly black and white silent film will be screened with a live piano accompaniment, invoking the atmosphere and nostalgia of the forgotten era of silent films.

21-year old Raya Martin is arguably the most highly touted young filmmaker in the Philippines today. The first Filipino filmmaker to be selected in the prestigious Cinéfondation Residence du Festival de Cannes in Paris, France, Martin is a 2005 graduate of the U.P. Film Institute, 2004 Ishmael Bernal Awardee for Young Cinema at the Cinemanila International Film Festival for his short film "Bakasyon", winner of the Best Documentary winner at .MOV International Digital Film Festival for his Itbayat documentary, "Isla Sa Dulo Ng Mundo", which screened at the prestigious Yamagata International Documentary Festival. The Philippine Premiere of "Maicling Pelicula nang Ysang Indio Nacional" was preceded by successful screenings at a number of prestigious international film festivals all around the world. It has thus far been selected for the following festivals:

Official Selection, 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam 2006
Official Selection, 13th Titanic International Filmfest Budapest
Official Selection, 30th Hong Kong International Film Festival
Official Competition, 19th Singapore International Film Festival 2006
Official Selection, 49th San Francisco International Film Festival
Closing Film, 3rd Isola Cinema Film Festival
Official Competition, 42nd Pesaro Film Festival
Parallel Screen, 17th Festival International du Documentaire de Marseille

You are all invited to watch and celebrate Philippine Independent Cinema on Philippine Independence Day, with a Filipino film truly unlike any that you have seen before. Please spread the word. Entrance is 50 pesos.

Written, Directed and Produced by Raya Martin
Co-Produced by Arleen Cuevas
Cinematography by Maisa Demetillo
Production Design by Ligaya Domingo
Edited by Louie Quirino, Anne Esteban
Cast includes Bodjie Pascua, Suzette Velasco, Lemuel Galman, Mark Joshua Maclang, Russell Ongkeko

"Indio Nacional" Film Quotes and Reviews:
"A Short Film About the Indio Nacional (or The Prolonged Sorrow of
Filipinos) by Raya Martin shows all the signs of being in the best
tradition of Apichatpong. In black-and-white, the faux-colonial
imagery, looking as if it has been reconstituted from turn-of-the
century archival footage, is the basis, here, for a secretly dialectic
reverie about the birth of a nation. The experience is enigmatic
enough that its manifest beauty is explicitly checked at its source."
- Jean Pierre Rehm, Cahiers du Cinema

"Raya Martin bases his work - without plagiarism - on the earliest
forms of filmmaking. In fact, he reinvents silent film."
- Gertjan Zuillhof, International Film Festival Rotterdam

"Raya Martin's beautiful paean to the common man, or 'indio,' of the
period is a fascinating work that intermittently rewards patience and
confirms Martin's place as a talent to watch."
- Jay Weissberg, Variety Magazine

"Shot in stately B&W long takes Martin's work recalls the films of
Bela Tarr and Martin's countryman Lav Diaz, but with an eye for
composition and detail all his own."
- Jason Sanders, Filmmaker Magazine

"In marrying the history of a nation with a historical film form
through his unique vision, Martin has created one of the truly
original works of contemporary Filipino cinema."
- Roger Garcia, San Francisco International Film Festival

"Raya stringed together vignettes of the Indio peasants just before
the Spanish arrived with their firearms, and the film's grainy
complexion plus the way it fuses the quasi-narrative with
anthropological artefacts - then transports it all into a
near-subconscious level - are influenced, it seems, by Apichatpong
Weerasethakul's first film, Mysterious Object at Noon. It's not a
flawless movie, but Raya Martin is obviously a name to remember."
– Kong Rithdee, Bangkok Post

"I was struck by the film's daring and often exquisite shifts in tone,
as well as a very particular approach to late 19th century Filipino
history. An early diegetic sound scene brings across the experience of
insomnia like no movie I've seen, before young director Raya Martin
makes a sudden jump into a wholly different (or is it?) realm of
black-and-white silent pictorial storytelling."
-Johnny Ray Huston, San Francisco Bay Guardian

[Noel_Vera]

Here's an excerpt from an upcoming article I wrote for Cinemaya Magazine:


Raya Martin's "Maicling pelicula nang ysang indio nacional (O Ang Mahabang Kalungkutan ng Katagalugan)" (A short film about the indio nacional (Or the Prolonged Sorrow of the Filipinos, 2005) is, on most obvious level, a prolonged exercise in imagination: what if some artist had a movie camera (invented only the year before) and used it during the Philippine Revolution of 1896? The result may not be unlike this--silent images, accompanied by a tinkling, sometimes ominously booming, piano; disjointed vignettes on ordinary life (a boy walking down a dirt road; the same boy sitting on a sidewalk) inserted between dramatic footage of momentous events (the Katipuneros (rebels) tossing a friar into the water; townsfolk running from some calamity).

On a deeper level it's the story of a man (Bodjie Pascua) disturbed from his sleep by a restless wife, asking for a story. The man, sitting up, tells her (and us) the unsettling tale of a boy who encounters an old man with a heavy bundle. The old man, he explains, is the Philippines, the bundle his burden, and the boy is the man himself, once upon a time. This introductory segment of man and wife is shot in color, with sound recording capturing the chirp of crickets, the ambient sound of a still, vast night; when the rest of the film unfolds it's in silent black-and-white, much like a dream or memory. The man's story--in fact, the entire introduction--acts as a kind of preamble: the woman lies in bed, unable to sleep, obviously unhappy or at least dissatisfied. The story is clearly allegorical--the man himself explains what the figures in the story mean--yet at the same time the intensity with which he narrates the story implies that it has a more personal meaning, that it has a powerful emotional resonance for him. Martin, in using color and silent black-and-white sequences, in having allegories narrated with a personal intensity, seems to be suggesting that the film is both a personal and racial memory; a dream--or nightmare--that the man shares with all Filipinos aware of their history.

[slowhand]

very intriguing

where can we view your whole article, Noel?

[Noel_Vera]

When Cinemaya comes out with its issue, unfortunately--October, I think.

Best new film I've seen this year, easily.

[commentary]

When Cinemaya comes out with its issue, unfortunately--October, I think.

Best new film I've seen this year, easily.

Does that encompass foreign films or among Filipino works, Noel?

[Noel_Vera]

Probably everything. That said, I'm seeing some tremendous films from long ago--Au Hasard Balthazar, Dairy of a Country Priest, Bona...so strictly among this year's films.

[edsa77]

i was very fortunate to have seen it first before others did.of course, tikoy was there. it was june or july of 2005. few days before that special private screening, tikoy and yuka were gushing about the short film(unfinished) version of this feature. raya arrived around ten. but tikoy was kinda sleepy na but we proceeded. after 96 minutes, damn it, no it was 'puta', ang ganda nya. but tikoy preferred the shorter version. the truth is, he didn't see most of the film since he was half-awake while the film was being played from raya's mini-dv(later he viewed it and appreciated its stunning beauty).a long monologue started the film by bodjie pascua of batibot fame. he was telling a woman a story about the cause of disharmony in this world. for filipino lit/rizalian majors, you'll get some hints were raya got his inspirations for that monologue. i told tikoy about it and he was amazed how i listened to the lines.tell me about it, after seeing the film. of course you have to listen to that long monologue since what will follow is a black and white silent film set in the 1890s during the onset of Filipino revolution against Spanish colonialism. you'll be presented with three different characters - a church bellringer, a teenage revolutionary and an actor rehearsing a popular Spanish play- their stories told in a series of tragicomic consequences. are these characters the same? at some point while watching, you might find yourselves asking. i was also thinking ' what if raya had more moolahs to finance it and afforded to buy more film stocks and more lights and stuff' wow. if he could do a masterpiece for 800K, what can he do more for 2M or 5M?? and remember Isla was done for under 50K. as i've mentioned before in my blog, raya is now in the position where apitchapong was when he released Mysterious Objects At Noon. it won't take long before we see another filipino receiving another palme d'ore after red.

pls. go back after here after the screening and tell me, who is the bodjie pascua character in that film???

ahh..khavn is doing the live scoring...

[Noel_Vera]

pls. go back after here after the screening and tell me, who is the bodjie pascua character in that film???

I have a theory.

I hope Khavn follows the soundtrack--the piano score is lovely.

My article on Indio Nacional (temporary link good until Thursday next week)

[commentary]

khavn won't be doing piano for philippine premiere, unfortunately. though the person who will be is supposed to be of repute.
khavn did do it when indio closed the isola festival in slovenia, and i'm told it was fantastic.

[rse]

I hope that they also post it online (in www.AtomFilms.com) like what they did with Anino so that we'll have a chance to see it too.

[commentary]

nice piece noel. look forward to reading the cinemaya piece.
i doubt they'll be doing that rse, though i do hope you get to watch (where are you based?). it's an hour and forty-one minutes so it's a bit more difficult to do.

[Noel_Vera]

Yeah, this one is lighter; the Cinemaya is a touch more analytical.

It's possible to download full length films, but I doubt if the image quality is worth it.

[commentary]

yeah they have a number of full length films online. youtube even has full length films of bunuel (l'age d'or), dreyer (passion of joan of arc, vampyr), jean epstein (fall of the house of usher), lang (metropolis), and murnau (nosferatu) among a host of others...

though the photography of this is so gorgeous i'd be hesitant to watch it in any format less than dvd, when a print is not available.

[Noel_Vera]

Joan of Arc on download? Yuck!

Hey, quick, while you're online--what's your all-time favorite Filipino Film, comm?

[commentary]

Hey, quick, while you're online--what's your all-time favorite Filipino Film, comm?

i've been studiously avoiding that one... give me another week 

[sungit]

Alexis, where can I get copies of Raya's work? It's so damn hard to keep abreast of the Pinoy movement when you're living so far away. Dunno how you do it Noel.

[Noel_Vera]

Sheer cunning, sungs. That, and terror tactics.

[oggsmoggs]

Maicling pelicula nañg ysañg indio nacional (O Ang Mahabang Kalungkutan ng Katagalugan) - Raya Martin

Southeast Asian cinema is an oft neglected area in world cinema. Outside the confines of your typical J-horror rip-offs or your muay thai stunt extravaganzas, Southeast Asia probably has the most progressive and most interesting films that are produced. Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul uses cinema to mystify social and cultural issues (or even non-issues) in a freeflowing, seamless, and almost natural resonance. Pen-ek Ratanaruang borrows Hollywood conventions, and later on world cinema (mostly French and indie American), to discuss Thailand and most of Asian in its present form of disconnect. The most maverick of all Southeast Asian filmmakers is Lav Diaz who foregoes conventions of commercially imposed running times in favor of real time immersion leading to a fully comprehensible reckoning of his themes. Probably the most promising is Raya Martin, who at 22, has already made a masterpiece, Maicling pelicula nañg ysañg indio nacional (O Ang Mahabang Kalungkutan ng Katagalugan).

Raya Martin's film can be divided into two parts. The first part, or the prologue, is in color and is accompanied by sound (mostly the barking of the dogs in the background). The prologue focuses on a woman who is unable to get some sleep. The woman's inability to sleep is a difficulty to watch. It's as if a huge burden is imposed upon her consciousness that it would be difficult, almost a sin, for her to lay to rest. She wakes her husband and begs for a story. The husband then tells his wife a story about a young boy who meets an old man who is carrying a coffin. The old man asks the boy if he can help him bury the coffin, which supposedly contains the remains of all the fake leaders who poisoned the land. The boy scoffs which makes the old man reveal himself as the Philippines. The monologue of the husband is prolonged and very emotional. The storytelling session is as painful to watch and listen to as the wife squirming in her mat, troubled and unable to sleep. The lamp dies and the second part of the film begins.

The second part is a series of silent film vignettes, accompanied by a live piano recital of Schumann, Chopin, Ligeti, Beethoven and Mozart. The vignettes hint of a plot regarding a young boy (a church bellringer) who is joked by his fellow youngsters which side he is on. Then follows the story of a teenager who signs up to become a member of the Philippine Revolution but is later disappointed when, upon dreaming of a sunrise for his beloved nation, goes into battle, not knowing that such attack was postponed. The second part ends with the story of a young barrio actor who spends most of his time rehearsing for a Spanish play while the barrio is in the midst of war. Interspersed within the thin plotlines are vignettes of the everyday actualities of rural life during the time of the Philippine Revolution. Interestingly, the vignettes are mostly about religion, revolution, and death. The film ends in a sudden, and suggestively pessimistic note.

The film is an imperfect yet tremendous piece of work. While the second part hints of whimsical, almost humorous tales and adventures of the young pre-revolution Filipino, it is also suggestive of the Filipinos' lack of identity, of its fickle-mindedness, which brings about a fate of prolonged sorrow. The film is elyptical. It begins with prolonged woe, with the wife's troubles and the husband's suggested sorrowful past, continues with a recounting of history, and ends with a conclusion of a nation's destiny of sadness. Raya Martin is of an age of Filipinos deprived of its history. History is learned through schools and books whose own sources are questionable results of centuries of colonial rule. Simply put, Martin is of an age where the history learned is the history of the privileged. The heroes of the Philippine Revolution are the illustrados, the wealthy, the learned and the titled. The indios (commoners) are merely pawns, foot soldiers of a revolution that led to the nation's supposed freedom from the clutches of colonialism. But has the nation outgrown its colonial masters when its own history is clouded by foreign historians who neglect the common people. Sadly, I think Martin believes that ours is a nation that is bereft of a national identity. That is why he fashions his film as something a native Filipino will make if he is handed a primitive motion camera in the midst of the Philippine Revolution. He will not capture the drafting of treaties or the promulgation of constitutions, what he will capture are the less than grandiose, if not droll and mundane, non-effects of the War. There will be an abundance of religious articles, as that is what he was forcefed with. There will be a lot of deaths, as such is a natural effect of poverty and slavery. There will be humorous sketches that display the Filipinos' ignorance and deprivation of knowledge. That is the magic of Martin's work - it is a recreation of a past that was never recorded because such is not what made this nation the Philippines. In a depressing note though, the deprivation of such and the reliance on written history based on the actions of the privileged is what made this nation what it is now - sorrowful, impoverished and in the verge of being hopeless. *****/*****

[RMN]

Say what you will, comm, but that prologue with Bodjie Pascua was best taken out But having said that, i think Raya did a wonderful job.

[keating]

I missed this one last Monday. I hope they will screen it again.

Are there any plans, commentary?

[rse]

nice piece noel. look forward to reading the cinemaya piece.
i doubt they'll be doing that rse, though i do hope you get to watch (where are you based?). it's an hour and forty-one minutes so it's a bit more difficult to do.

Sorry I didn't know that it was a feature film.   I thought that it's only a short film.
I'm based in Europe.

[Noel_Vera]

Say what you will, comm, but that prologue with Bodjie Pascua was best taken out

But I think Bodjie's prologue is key to the whole thing--the source of the film's emotional power. If it's bleak and dark and despairing, that's the point of the scene.

[oggsmoggs]

But I think Bodjie's prologue is key to the whole thing--the source of the film's emotional power. If it's bleak and dark and despairing, that's the point of the scene.

I completely agree. Without the prologue, the film would feel gimmicky and pretentious. The prologue shows a woman troubled by something unknown, and a man reminiscing of a childhood (his?, his country's? theories abound) with an obvious pain and ache. The rest of the film, the vignettes, all seem to swell into a desperate attempt to recreate Philippine history (or at least acknowledge the history of the neglected indio). I love the film, and I have high hopes for Martin (who surprised me when he spoke in front of the crowd, since he's so young and a little bit fidgety).

[Noel_Vera]

Indio Nacional (Raya Martin, 2005) Permanent link