Southeast Asia has always been an abundant trove of folklore, owing to the region’s vibrant traditions and cultural heritage. Passed on generation after generation, these narratives are ingrained deep into the heart of these cultures and the psyche of the people. Whether they involve mythical creatures or great sultans and legendary heroes, many legends persist to convey moral lessons, a practical yet mystical guide to life.
This ASEAN Month, Shangri-La Plaza, which is known for bringing quality world cinema to Filipinos, brings these enduring tales to the big screen at the 7th Tingin Southeast Asian Film Festival on August 17 and 18 at the Red Carpet Cinema. As the only film festival in the country dedicated to showcasing Southeast Asian filmmakers, Tingin has prepared a lineup of celebrated masterpieces that center on the theme, Enchantments for a Fragile World.
The festival opens with The Long Walk by Laos’ first female filmmaker Mattie Do. Premiering in 2019, this genre-bending feature exploring grief, guilt, and responsibility follows an old hermit who learns a ghost can transport him to his mother’s painful death.
Self-taught filmmaker Lin Htet Aung from Myanmar captivates with the 2023 experimental black-and-white short feature Once Upon a Time, There Was a Mom that tells the story of a man’s transformation after his wife’s death, reflecting Myanmar’s complex past and paralleling the classic Buddhist tale Vessantara Jātaka. Continuing the exploration of grief is the 2021 Kim Quy Bui film Memoryland, which showcases Vietnamese death rituals and the slowly intersecting stories of a grieving son, young construction worker’s widow, and a widowed painter.
The region’s rich mythic traditions collide with poignant drama depicting current and historic events. In Cambodian director Boren Chhith’s 2023 debut short feature Golden Dragon, an injured man wakes up in a hospital quickly overwhelmed by the returning rush of his dreams and memories, haunted by both national and past traumas. Meanwhile, Snow in Midsummer, the 2023 historical drama by renowned Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun, follows a young woman who seeks refuge in an opera troupe during Malaysia’s deadly racial riots in 1969 and, 49 years later, confronts the loss that shaped her life.
Southeast Asian rituals are spotlighted in the 2021 Thai documentary Worship by Uruphong Raksasad, which offers an immersion into the ritualized power of faith and its profound impact on people’s lives. Indonesia’s Natasha Tontey similarly explores ancestral ceremonies with speculative fiction in her 2023 15-minuter Of Other Tomorrows Never Known, blending mystical beliefs with deep care and ancestral dialogues.
Themes of friends and family remain strong with Singapore’s Dreaming and Dying. The 2023 experimental fantasy drama by Nelson Yeo features three middle-aged friends meeting for the first time in years, only for things to take a turn when long-repressed emotions, desires, and memories begin to surface. In Brunei’s 2022 short film Part of Me by Hazrul Aizan, the role of family is examined when an aspiring singer is caught between his dreams and fulfilling his family’s expectations for a stable career.
Tingin concludes with the Philippines’ In My Mother’s Skin. Directed by Kenneth Dagatan and starring Beauty Gonzalez, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, and Felicity Kyle Napuli, this 2023 psychological horror film is set during the dying days of World War II. In a set-up sure to have audiences gripping the edge of their seats, the film tells the story of a young girl whose duty to protect her mom is jeopardized by her growing bond with an alluring, flesh-eating fairy.
Experience the enchanting tales of Southeast Asian folklore in contemporary cinematic contexts, catch the 7th Tingin Southeast Asian Film Festival on August 17 and 18 at the Shangri-La Plaza.
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