AS a religious organization, CBN Asia celebrates its 26th year spreading hope and joy through multifaceted ministries in multimedia, counseling, cross-cultural missions and humanitarian aid. Recently, it received good news that its first-ever produced full-length film has been selected to compete at the 29th Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival in Missouri, USA.
Titled Oligase (Demon of Fear), the narrative follows the life of Laha, a young Matigsalug girl who leaves her village when she decides to go against the old tale of her tribe about a monster, known as Oligase, which attacks and eats school children. As she pursues her dreams of education, she realizes that there are other monsters lurking in her city of dreams.
“We are all very happy to receive the good news that it has been included in the official selection of this international film event dedicated to exploring cross-cultural understanding through cinema,” enthused Icko Gonzales, cowriter and codirector of the film.
Gonzales drew inspiration after reading the short novel of Pio Gabad Arce, who agreed to collaborate with Gonzales to write the screenplay. Gonzales also worked in tandem with John Valdes Tan, CBN Asia vice president and chief operationg officer, to direct the film.
Tan shared, “I was driven by curiosity to know and understand the Matigsalug people of Malikongkong in Davao. Their world is so different from ours who live in the big cities. They live without electricity, running water, no hospitals, TV, Internet, and even basic education is deprived from many of them. This inspired me to delve deeper into the life of our indigenous countrymen and the challenges they face every day.”
Tan, Gonzales and their team thought it best to cast non-actors for the film. “We had to conduct acting workshops for those we chose to portray our characters, especially our lead actor, Lesslie Joy Pasandog. Most of the actors were from the Matigsalug tribe. To shoot in their native dialect plus working with non-actors were huge challenges. But we all believe that we will be closest to authenticity with that decision.”
For the actual shoot, the Oligase team stayed in the mountain village for a week with no running water, electricity and modern toilets which was a challenge for the crew. “The logistics and the weather also posed hurdles but the team made it through with faith and cooperation of every one involved. We had to physically carry film equipment up and down the hills of Malikongkong with the help of the villagers,” Tan shared, adding, “During post-production, the directors and editors had a hard time editing the footages since these were all in the Matigsalug dialect. Many consultations were held between Manila and Davao to finish the film.”
“Looking back, there were a lot of learnings from the making of Oligase. Coming up with a quality film takes so much time, effort, finances and creativity. There were a lot of ups and downs but in spite of all that, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything else. All along we also saw God’s faithfulness as He brought the right people to help us transform this vision to a reality,” Tan intoned.
The winners of the Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival will be announced this month and the Oligase team is excited beyond words. “Just to be in the official selection is already a big blessing since this is CBN Asia’s first-ever full feature film,” Gonzales volunteered.
When the pandemic is over, CBN Asia will continue to look into the power of cinema and how it can be an instrument of discovery, a bridge to connect people, and a means of spreading love, joy, faith and many other priceless blessings to as many as it can reach.
1 comment
Congratulations!