sdn
sdn
sdn
sdn
sdn
sdn
sdn
sdn sdn
sdn sdn
sdn
sdn
Lisboa
The 14th International Festival
Signes de Nuit
at Lisboa

October 1st - 9, 2016

Lisboa
Lisboa
Darc Desterro
*
fb tw ins vm

freengger

 

 

******
Focus Philippines # 2
Sunday, October 9, 2016 / 4 pm
DARC Desterro
Lisboa / Portugal

 

Bontok, Rapeless
Walang Rape sa Bontok
 

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?



EUROPE PREMIERE

 

+ d'infos sdn


 

in collaboration with Axel Estein
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.




 



 


 

 

 

October 1 - 9, 2016

The FISDN present film series focused on different countries and regions. This section intends to discover and explore different spaces and cultures with the aim to understand the specific regional, political and social circumstances, do reconstruct the emotional and intellectual spécificities of a special region or country. In this critical work we belief it's essencial to prefer films which rufuse, in its form and expression, the retake of sterotype ways of reality restituition, as an act of resistance in the actual period of "globalisation", which inclins to impose one dominating model of culture and habitutes.


sdn

 

 


 

Festival international SIGNES DE NUIT - 18, rue Budé 75004 Paris - France - Tel : +33 (0) 1 40 46 92 25 - +33 (0) 6 84 40 84 38 - cood.int@signesdenuit.com