A FILM made by several Mindanaon filmmakers is part of this year’s QCinema International Film Festival.
Entitled Masla A Papanok, the Gutierrez “Teng” Mangansakan II film falls under the festival’s circle competition category.
The historical drama period film travels back to 1892 when a giant big black bird mysteriously appears in Maguindanao after centuries of absence. It also essays the story of a princess who sought refuge in a convent to escape from an arranged marriage and a young prince who is trying to make sense of his station.
Mangansakan shared that when he was pitching Masla A Papanok, he was asked about the bird’s appearance and significance. Papanok is the Maguindanaon word for bird.
“I asked my father to recall accounts of those who have seen this mysterious bird in the past. He described it as a big black bird and likened it to an eagle, but much larger. He has not seen it himself, but has heard of many stories about it,” read the award-winning filmmaker’s statement on the film’s Facebook page.
He explained that in Maguindanaon lore, the appearance of Papanok signals bad omen. When it happens, he said, people in the olden days say "inunian na buniga" or "the sounding of the big bird" to refer to this event.
“When people hear the sound, they know that bad things are bound to happen. The sound of the bird is, therefore, the ominous presence more than the sighting,” he added.
For the making of this period film, one of the production team’s biggest challenges is how to mount the film's production design with very limited resources. The film only has a little more than a million pesos budget.
“The first thing we did was turn to archival photos of Cotabato taken during the last years of Spanish colonial period. These photos offered a lot of insights - from creating an authentic look to deducing knowledge on the political economy and social life of the Maguindanaons of the late 1800s, which would then inform the visual design of the period,” he said.
Masla A Papanok, according to QCinemas website, mixes history, myth, memory and magic to reimagine the Spanish colonial period in Mindanao.
Some of the Mindanaon filmmakers who work with Mangansakan for this film are Arnel Barbarona, Bagane Fiola, and Willie Apa, among others.
The festival runs October 22 to 30, 2018. For screenings’ schedule, check the film social media account: Masla A Papanok.