Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon

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2 Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon (From What is Before) 2014 Synopsis: Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad and houses are burned. Military operations are becoming common. Brutal militias rule the countryside. Ferdinand E. Marcos announces Proclamation No putting the entire country under Martial Law. Greater cinema fulfills one of its promises that of reclaiming the Malay Philippines provenance. Banished traditions/practices of the pre-hispanic and pre-islamic periods are resurrected and immortalized. 2

3 Director's statement: The title of the film is from the Latin phrase a priori, used in Western philosophy as knowledge independent of all particular experiences, an argument/justification on the essentiality of truth that is easily gleaned even without empirical evidence. In 1972, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed Martial Law plunging the entire Philippines into its darkest period. The epoch practically obscured everything that is essentially Filipino then. Marcos political methodology was clinical and brutal. The story of the film revolves around the lives of poor villagers in one of the remotest regions of the Philippines before Martial Law was declared. Loosely based on real events and characters, the film examines how an individual and collective psyche responds to extreme and mysterious changes in social and physical environment. 3

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7 CAST Perry Dizon Roeder Camañag Hazel Orencio Angelina Kanapi Karenina Haniel Joel Saracho Ching Valdes-Aran Sito Tony Itang Heding Joselina Father Guido Babu Maria Victoria Beltran Bai Rahmah Ian Lomongo Reynan Abcede Noel Sto. Domingo Evelyn Vargas Lt. Perdido Hakob Horacio Miss Acevedo Teng Mangansakan Principal Kristine Kintana Dea Chua Kristian Chua Ramon Tinang Narsing Kaninah Sabine Chua Kondring Kyrie Usha Chua Paul Jake Paule Richard Bolisay Kim Perez Junjun Magno Father s assistant Maria Liryc Paolo Dela Cruz Mr. Hashmi 7

8 Justine Tabara Kyla Domingo Jun Catenza Abraham Abdullah Dindo Aida Mariano Maguindanaoan shaman CREW Director, Producer, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography Lav Diaz Assistant Director Production Manager Hazel Orencio Liryc Paolo Dela Cruz Asst. Production Manager/Production Assistant Kyla Domingo Camera Department Hazel Orencio Che Villanueva Lights Crew Hazel Orencio Che Villanueva Sound Additional Sound Sound Design Production Designer Art Director Mark Locsin Sultan Diaz Lav Diaz Perry Dizon Kim Perez Liryc Paolo Dela Cruz Wardrobe Lucky Jay De Guzman/Kim Perez 8

9 REVIEW Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon (From What is Before), Lav Diaz s follow-up to his highly acclaimed Norte: Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Norte: The End of History), opens with views of rolling hills and untouched landscapes. From a forest of bananas, a little boy (Reynan Abcede), carrying a large bunch of bananas, walks towards the field. A voice, presumably of the invisible storyteller, breaks the peace established by the stretched minutes of Diaz s monochrome vistas, saying that everything is but based on memory. Memory, like history, is a malleable commodity in Diaz s films. The memory spoken by the invisible storyteller is not the same memory that we commonly understand. In fact, the invisible storyteller may not even be the little boy, or Diaz himself, but of the film s most prominent character, the town. Diaz has crafted a community, much like the Philippines, that aches and bleeds because of the acts and decisions of the people that comprise it. Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon works best as an allegory. The events that happen in the small town, although specified as though they have happened a couple of years prior to the events of the martial law era, mirror the vast history of the Philippines as a nation. From the pertinent connection of the people with the land to that connection s slow but sure dissipation because of the subtle entry of religion and politics, the town s harrowing experiences evoke a certain sense of familiarity that is discomforting. Diaz, however, does not settle for just symbolisms and representations. The stories of the town s dwellers are by themselves worthy of their own multi-hour features. The little boy from the film s opening, believing all his life that his parents are lepers in a colony in Palawan, has been saving money to search for them. Sito (Perry Dizon), the boy s ward and concocter of the grand lie, acts as the film s central figure, the only person to completely witness the village s transformation. 9

10 Suffering and deceit Itang (Hazel Orencio) and Joselina, her sister who suffers from cerebral palsy and has the power to heal some of the villagers many ailments, provide the film its moral dilemma. Through the rumors spread by Heding (Mailes Kanapi), the outsider who has suddenly started to sell various knick-knacks to the villagers, the sisters have become the center of suspicion as to why the town has been suffering. Tony (Roeder Camanag), the town s winemaker, surreptitiously visits Joselina to ease his carnal longings. The town, although far from perfect especially with its many tales of suffering and deceit, reflects the very same dilemma that plagues the Philippines. Diaz, by weaving together those tales into a single epic, has summarized a country s painful history not with facts and dates but with impressions and emotions. Mula Sa Kung Saan Ang Noon is sustained by evocative tableaus of human beings in various degrees of personal, spiritual and political strife. This country is built on the sins of its citizens, Diaz seems to be proclaiming with Mula Sa Kung Saan Ang Noon. Its history is carved from the lies, the duplicity, the greed, and the violence that have been constant tools for survival. Projected away from the film s narrative and into what the country has actually experienced, it is the Philippines history of repeated exploitation that has allowed for certain evils to triumph. Marcos, and everything that has happened thereafter, are but products of our own inhumanity and complacency. Mula sa Kung Saan Ang Noon, which deservedly won the grand prize in the ongoing World Premieres Film Festival by the Film Development Council of the Philippines,is five and a half hours long. It is short compared to Diaz s other eight to eleven hour masterpieces. Let this not daunt you. What Diaz has done is to distill centuries of the country s sorrows and agonies into a fascinatingly fractured narrative that will never ever leave you. This is a memory that is worth making your own. -Oggs Cruz (via 10

11 WRITE-UPS Filipino film on lost rituals takes World Festival prize By Marinel Cruz (July 7, 2014) MANILA, Philippines A five-hour drama set on the brink of martial law, the Philippines sole entry to the 2014 World Premieres Film Festival (WPFF), bagged the Grand Festival Prize at the awards ceremony on Wednesday night at the Centerstage theater of SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City. Lav Diaz s From What Is Before, the winning piece, is a recollection of the acclaimed indie filmmaker s high school years in Sultan Kudarat before martial law. 11

12 According to Lav, the movie shows three Maguindanaoan rituals erased after martial law, said cast member Kristine Kintana in an earlier interview. The film, which almost failed to make it to the festival because of technical problems, likewise won the Best Ensemble Production award. Kintana said in a press conference on Sunday that the hard drive containing all the files from the start of Diaz s filming in December 2013 got corrupted. While Diaz had kept a backup, Kintana said not all files were restored. The director failed to make it to the festival s opening ceremony on Monday because he was still busy with last-minute editing work. The WPFF, which will run until July 8, is organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). FDCP chair Briccio Santos was pleased that a compatriot won the award. Lav rightfully deserves this. I hope [his victory] will entice other Filipino filmmakers to create more movies and explore new narratives, he said. The Ecuadorean drama, Open Wound, a true-to-life story based on the territorial conflict between Ecuador and Peru in the 1940s, bagged the Grand Jury Prize. The Alfredo Leon Leon film also brought home the Technical Grand Prize and the Best Performance by an Actor award for Rene Pastor. Not one but 3 prizes Iranian thespian Roya Teymourian won Best Performance by an Actress honors for her work in Reza Azamian s Romantic Nostalgia. The Best Artistic Contribution (Cinematography) award was handed to the Spanish film Crustaceans by Vicente Perez Herrero. Other films that competed under the International World Premieres category were: The Sharks of Copacabana (Rosario Boyer, Brazil); Autopsy of Love (Arturo Prins, Spain); 12

13 New York Shadows (Juan Pinzas, Spain), and Our Hodja (F. Serkan Acar and Yilmaz Okumus, Turkey). I didn t expect to win even one prize but I got three, said Leon shortly after the awards ceremony. I m the youngest of the eight competing filmmakers, and while they have been making films for a while, this is only my first. I m really happy for the opportunity to show the film so far from home. The 81-minute Spanish documentary Coast of Death was declared winner of the Cine Verde Prize for Best Environmental Feature. The film by Lois Patino tells of the historical region of Costa de Morte, its people and its mysterious landscape. Composing the festival jury were Benjamin Illos, member of the Cannes Film Festival s Quinzaine des Realisateurs selection committee; Roger Garcia, executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival; and John Badalu, a founding member of the Indonesia Film Festival. Reputable jurors We selected jurors who are very reputable, Santos said. They have been invited to other international festivals and are very prolific and proficient in their own right. We made sure to select the right ones also to keep the integrity of the winners. Santos said the WPFF would be an annual event. Some 40 films from 27 countries which participated in the festival will be screened in SM Cinemas in Metro Manila until July 8. Ecuadorian director Leon said he hoped more Filipino audiences would get to see his work. It s important for festivals to build an audience. You have to let the common people know that [through the WPFF], they are given a unique opportunity to watch films from different parts of the world, Leon said. Filipinos should come to the festival every year 13

14 because it should be a great experience for them. I wish this festival would last a very long time, that in the years to come it would build a bigger audience. Open Wound is Best Actor Pastor s first full-length feature, said Leon. He auditioned for the role and I thought he did a great job. I liked that he s very natural. It s like he is not acting at all. Through his eyes, without speaking, he is able to communicate a lot of things. He is going to be very happy to know that he won an award here. Leon described his film as very sincere. This is actually not about war but a coming-of-age story of a young soldier, he said. I think everyone, no matter where you are in the world, can relate to that to the inner struggles of growing up. We ve all had to face difficulties in different times in our lives. This shows that we ve all had a hard time finding out who we are and why we re here. Source: 14

15 The World Premieres Film Festival Bringing the world to the Philippines By Philip Cu-Unjieng (July 7, 2014) MANILA, Philippines - Cannes, Venice, Berlin. It s interesting to note how cities stage film festivals that become annual beacons for cultural enlightenment, business dealings and tourism. Here in Asia, Hong Kong, and more recently, Singapore and Pusan, have also begun the tradition of staging such festivals. And there is some irony in the fact that our very own Manila enjoys having on historical record one of the region s earliest commercial film exhibitions (1898); and yet, we have not been able to sustain the staging of an annual landmark film festival. Hopefully, all that changes with this year s World Premieres Film Festival Philippines Organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), in partnership with SM Cinemas, the ongoing festival (at SM Megamall, Mall of Asia, North EDSA, Manila and Sta. Mesa) is a virtual showcase of nascent possibility, with films from all over the world vying for our consideration. Given the enthusiastic response of the film directors involved in the main competition to the brand of Filipino hospitality they ve been enjoying, it s very likely that 15

16 they ll be spreading the word of just how precious a festival this can be auguring well for the future of this festival! June 29 saw the opening ceremonies of the festival held at the Esplanade, Mall of Asia; and it was a potent mix of the artists from all over the world, Manila society and personalities from the local film industry. Last Monday, the foreign film directors were invited to a special dinner organized by Hans Sy of SM Cinema, who along with FDCP chairman Briccio Santos, were the perfect hosts, regaling the guests with anecdotes about the Philippines, and treating them to a small showcase of folk dancing. I know the Spanish directors were especially enamored by how some dances and musical instruments paid homage to our Spanish colonial heritage. On July 2, we had the awards night. With an international jury composed of Benjamin Illos, who has served on the Cannes Fortnight Selection Committee; Roger Garcia, executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival; and John Badalu, a founding member of the film festival in Indonesia, the World Premieres Film Festival had several prizes up for grabs. Best Picture would garner the Grand Festival Prize, and there were Grand Jury Prizes and Special Jury Prizes for Best Performance by an Actor, by an Actress, for Artistic Contribution, for Ensemble Performance and a Technical Grand Prize. These were for the eight films vying in the main competition. 16

17 People watching one s work is true triumph By Marinel Cruz (July 8, 2014) Award-winning indie filmmaker Lav Diaz, whose film From What Is Before won the Grand Festival Prize at the 2014 World Premieres Film Festival (WPFF, ongoing till July 8), exhorts industry leaders to work on bringing the arts to the common people. We should reach out to the masa. Ignorance is a major issue. We have to address this for our culture to grow and develop, Diaz told the Inquirer, a day after the awards were handed out in a ceremony at the SM Mall of Asia s Centerstage theater. Let us promote our own films. We could redirect promotional funds to give free tickets to barangays and hire shuttle buses to bring them to the cinemas, Diaz added. His five-hour drama almost didn t make it to the competition because of technical problems. In the end, its cast also won Best Ensemble Performance. Diaz was a noshow, but actors Hazel Orencio, Liryc Paulo de la Cruz, Kim Perez and Perry Dizon attended the hour-long ceremony. Competing filmmakers Diaz competed with seven other filmmakers: Rosario Boyer from Brazil, who directed The Sharks of Copacabana ; Alfredo León León from Ecuador, Mono Con Gallinas ; 17

18 Reza Azamian from Iran, Romantic Nostalgia ; F. Serkan Acar and Yilmaz Okumus from Turkey, Our Hodja ; and, from Spain, Arturo Prins, Autopsy of Love ; Vicente Perez Herrero, Crustaceans ; and Juan Pinzas, New York Shadows. From What Is Before is set in 1972, at the start of martial law. It examines what Diaz calls the country s darkest period. His WPFF victory came on the heels of his Gawad Urian Best Picture win for another film Norte, the End of History, from the local critics group. Like most independent filmmakers, Diaz said he did not create the film to aim for winning an award. What s more important is for the film to be seen by as many people as possible, he stressed. An award is but an affirmation of one s work. Mono Con Gallinas, a true-life story based on the territorial conflict between Ecuador and Peru in the 1940s, bagged the Grand Jury Prize. It also won the Technical Excellence award and Best Performance by an Actor honor for lead Rene Pastor. Other awards handed out were Best Artistic Contribution (Cinematography) for Crustaceans and Best Performance by an Actress for Iranian Roya Teymourian for her work in Romantic Nostalgia. The 81-minute Spanish documentary Coast of Death was declared winner of the Cine Verde Prize for Best Environmental Feature. The WPFF is organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines. Council chair Briccio Santos said it will henceforth be an annual event. Issa Litton was master of ceremonies on Wednesday night. Some 40 films are being screened at SM cinemas in Metro Manila until Tuesday. Source: 18