SALAMINDANAW Asian Film Festival opens today, November 7, in General Santos City with two films that festival director Teng Mangansakan said is: "in keeping with our vision to celebrate cinema and its immense power be a truthful mirror (salamin) of reality.
The struggle of the lumads and our overseas Filipino workers (OFW) is central to the narrative of the Filipino nation.
The first films is “Dead Slow Ahead,” a Spanish-French production directed by Mauro Herce set on a freighter ship with a mostly Filipino crew navigating from Ukraine to New Orleans.
This film has been praised in Locarno for its contemplative documentary style.
It allows reflection on one's life as well s the life of seafarers, which the Philippines has in the hundreds of thousands.
The second film is by Dabawenyo filmmaker Bagane Fiola, “Baboy Halas: Wailings in the Forest” which delves on a lumad family as they face the changes in their environment including the imposing lifestyle and customs of the more sociable tribes on the plain.
The success of Baboy Halas as a film is that it simply told the story of life in the jungle and how intricately woven the forest-dwellers lives are with the environment without exploiting the strife of the indigenous peoples.
That Salamindanaw opens on its third year is by itself a testament to how filmmaking as an industry and an art can be nurtured for as long as there are people who are dedicated to producing and telling their stories in a way that will make the audience sit up and take notice.
To date, Salamindanaw is the only international film festival in southern Philippines, which underscores the determination of the fledgling industry to excel in a field with their very own stories, and flourishing from the lush source of artistry and prose that Mindanao has.
From the Mindanao Film Festival that has continued to encourage new talents to try their hand in film for over a decade now, Salamindanaw opens yet another venue for exposure of these talents.
This is how homegrown industries can flourish, by building up on each other's strength instead of taking down what is already there.
Kudos to those behind Salamindanaw and may this film festival continue in the years to come.
This said, we are awaiting as well the new films in the upcoming Mindanao Film Festival this December.