‘The inspiration for “Tumandok” began in 2019 when director-writer Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay and co-filmmaker Richard Jeroui Salvadico immersed themselves in the Ati community during a cultural mapping project.’
At the 20th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, the film “Tumandok” took home the lion’s share of awards, including Best Full-Length Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Musical Score, and the NETPAC Best Picture Award. Cinemalaya is known for its significant citations, and “Tumandok” was lauded for its focus on marginalized communities, effective storytelling, and the use of non-professional actors in delivering a powerful narrative.
Traditionally, what is significant with Cinemalaya are its citations, so we have collated all of “Tumandok’s” pieces for their consolidated literature.
The film was awarded Best Film for its portrayal of a marginalized sector of Philippine society – “for its focus on a marginalized sector of Philippine society; for its nearly epic sweep of the life and landscape of a people disempowered by the wealthy and the powerful and victimized by government neglect and corruption; for its highly convincing characters and effective ensemble acting by a cast of non-professional actors; and for its highly effective filmmaking in defense of the rights of indigenous people to their ancestral domain.”
Arden Rod Condez and Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay won the best screenplay “for taking as its subject matter a sector that’s relegated to the margins of society, and its powerful tale of an indigenous people’s resolve to keep their ancestral land in the face of corruption and violence.”
Felipe Ganancial won best performance of an Actor in a Supporting Role “for his very impressive performance as elder and chieftain trying to keep his people together in their steadfast but non-violent fight to keep their ancestral land despite violence and intimidation by the wealthy and the powerful.”
The award for Best Musical Scoring goes to Paulo Almaden and the Ati people of Kabarangkalan and Nagpana “for their highly effective use of ancient songs and ethnic instrumentation to complement its powerful depiction of an indigenous people’s fight for its ancestral domain.”
And lastly, it won the award NETPAC film ”for its strong inner community voice of loving their land, and admirable representation of a strong young woman chatracter who becomes a leader behind the men.”
“Tumandok” means native in Hiligaynon, the dominant language of Panay in Western Visayas. The film tackles the plight of the Ati – the island’s indigenous Negrito people. After centuries of being pushed to the margins, they now find their sliver of homeland under threat.
Indeed, one of the most painful experiences is for a family to have their home taken away – a place where they were born, raised, and dreamed. This is especially heartbreaking when the land rightfully belongs to them.
For the Ati community of Sitio Karabangkalan, the fight is far from over. With strength, dignity, and pride in their identity, they persist in their efforts to secure their land title.
In supporting a film like “Tumandok,” we become part of their journey and in a way, contribute to this cause.
The inspiration for “Tumandok” began in 2019 when director-writer Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay and co-filmmaker Richard Jeroui Salvadico immersed themselves in the Ati community during a cultural mapping project. En-en, the lead actress. spoke about Utas entering their community. They didn’t know anything about it and instantly felt guilty about not knowing more of their stories of struggle. So the next day, they did what they know how to do: they started writing the story (and later, the screenplay) based on fiction. But they got to know En-en and the community and their stories, which surpassed and overpowered the fictional narrative that they have written. They then decided to base the story from En-en’s perspective and from the view of other IP communities that they have worked with in the past five years.
Arlie said: “It feels surreal to be in Cinemalaya for so many reasons. One of it is working with the filmmakers that we look up to – our producers, Direk Arden Rod Condez, Direk Sheron Dayoc and Direk Sonny Calvento. It is such a dream come true to be able to learn from these three and to be able to do this film with them. Our pure motives for this film and our goal is to secure the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title of Sitio Kabarangkalan Ati Community and help them reclaim their homes and their rights.”
Main producer from Southern Lantern Studio Direk Arden Rod Condez said, “‘Tumandok’s’ Richard Jeroui Salvadico and Kat Sumagaysay were our mentees in our online filmmaking for budding Western Visayas filmmakers which became a mentoring program during the pandemic. When the filmmakers approached me with their intention to join Cinemalaya, I couldn’t say no to them because, one, I knew how much they aspired to join the competition, and two, their story had potential. I said yes to ‘Tumandok’ because of its simplicity and rawness in telling the plight of the Atis and its intention to raise funds to help the community process their ancestral domain title.
“After I said yes, I developed the project with them from conceptualization to writing the treatment that was submitted to Cinemalaya. Finding funding was the biggest hurdle we encountered in doing these projects. I was surprised that two of our projects were selected (the other one was ‘Love Child’). Napalunok na lang ako ng laway sa kaba.
“For ‘Tumandok,’ we found it hard to look for a co-producer because, understandably, the film features non-professional actors speaking in their own language, Inati. We did crowdfunding but decided to produce the film with only the grant from Cinemalaya and FDCP. Thankfully, Terminal Six Post committed to co-producing it with us by sponsoring the post-production. However, since the money from Cinemalaya and FDCP was given in tranches, we had no choice but to borrow money from friends. We also limited our expenses. We only had 26 people in our production team. The film was shot in just 7 days, 5 of which were spent in the mountains of Sitio Kabarangkalan. We had to climb one mountain after another for the scenes under intense heat, sleep in tents, and use a toilet with nothing but a cloth as its door. This was by far the most difficult shoot I had ever been on, but it was also the most fulfilling. Knowing how the Ati community desperately wanted this film to happen reaffirmed my belief that in the Philippines, filmmaking is more than just art; it is part of nation-building. In this case, it can potentially help an indigenous community save their homes.
“This is also the very essence of Cinemalaya for me. We are creating films for the masses above anyone else. Di sa pagiging showbiz, but this film has a greater aspiration than just festivals and awards. Yes, we would love to be selected for international film festivals, but admittedly, we didn’t make these films as “super art” because we wanted them to reach the masses. So they can relate, so they can empathize. I want Tumandok to raise awareness about the struggles of the Ati, call the government to take action, and hopefully, help the community secure their land titles. If the laurels from international film festivals could be converted to cash, why not. But the dreams of this film are very practical.”
“Tumandok” has made history by being the first docu-fiction film with an all-Ati cast to grab the Cinemalaya’s most valued awards. We hope it could be screened in more accessible cinemas to. Para sa Ati, mabuhay!
