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Bontok, Rapeless

Mark Lester Menor Valle
Philippines
2014 / 1:59:00

Two Filipinas, both victims of sexual abuse in varying degrees, yearn and search for a utopia where women can live without being sexually violated. By chance, they encounter a study by renowned anthropologist June Prill-Brett, Ph.D., which states that the Bontok of the Philippine Cordilleras has lived for eras without a term, nor concept, nor incidence, of rape. At last, a utopia, where the most heinous of gender crimes is unheard of. Or, is it?

The search centers on the municipality of Bontoc, the locus of Bontok culture. Alas, the move to completely revalidate Dr. Brett’s statement is a generation too late. Oral tradition is now seldom retold, and the last generation of Bontok Igorots who have lived in the traditional ato and olog are already in their twilight years.

Through judiciary archives, local government records, and the oral narratives of Bontok elders, the mission does find its holy grail, albeit almost dead: suffocating under the inevitable weight of alien culture and mass media. If at all, the rape-less society still exists, but only within small, close-knit Bontok communes. Still exists, but trapped in the rapidly-fading past: the last evidence proving its very existence is the collective memory of Bontok elders who do not even know each other, all saying “Idi, awan! Tatta, addan …” (“In our days, there was none! But today, there is rape…”)

The documentary seeks to answer this question: in a country where the universality of sexual violence is widely condoned, how did a rape-less society ever become possible?

in collaboration with Axel Estein

Axel Estein studied Japanology, History, Philosophy at Freie Universität Berlin. Founding member, co-publisher of Splatting Image. Organizer of Howl: Weekend of Fear film festivals (1991 – 1995). Consulting, curating, organizing festivals like Exground, Asian Hot Shots, Interfilm, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Tampere Film Festival Philippine Focus and many other events since 1989. Contributor to various printed and web-based matter (national, international). Lecturer (national, international). Organized first complete retrospectives of Lav Diaz (2008) and Brillante Mendoza (2010) in Germany. Recenty curates in cooperation with Philippine governmental bodies a comprehensive Retrospective of Philippine cinema scheduled for 2014 in Berlin. Member of NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema). Served on juries for several film festivals worldwide. Lives in Berlin and Manila.