Filipino Independent Film “K’na the Dreamweaver” Shares With Japanese Viewers Indigenous T’boli Culture and Art at Aichi Film Fest
From http://www.vintersections.com/2014/07/ida-del-mundos-k-na-dreamweaver-to.html
02 September 2015, Nagoya – The Filipino Independent film “K’na the Dreamweaver” shared with Japanese movie viewers the culture and art of the T’boli of Lake Sebu in South Cotabato.
Film Director Ms. Ida Anta Q. Del Mundo and lead Filipina actress Mara Lopez Yokohama, as K’na, introduced the film during the 20TH Aichi International Women’s Film Festival held from 1 to 6 September 2015 at the Aichi Women’s Center in Nagoya. “K’na the Dreamweaver” is a love story that features the culture and social values of the T’boli weaving into the story line the art and craft of the T’nalak fabric amidst the beauty and serenity of Lake Sebu.
Ms. Del Mundo and Ms. Yokohama informed the viewers that the film was shot within 12 days entirely on location along the banks of Lake Sebu with the main casts all speaking in the T’boli language. The director said the main actors and actresses were from Manila and had to learn the T’boli dialect in one month before the filming while the rest of the cast were T’boli who also had to learn basic acting for the film.
Ms. Del Mundo also explained that the set, the houses and costumes were all original T’boli that were designed with the advice of T’bolis using traditional materials and techniques. The music score was also original tribal T’boli with added materials from Ms. Del Mundo who has a background in music and is a violinist.
The weaving of the T’nalak fabric, an indigenous Filipino art, was a key attraction of the film, which Ms. Del Mundo said can only be done by the women T’boli that the Japanese women could relate to.
Mr. Hiroaki Takeuchi, Chairperson of the Aichi Gender Equality Foundation, said the Aichi Film Festival, now on its 20th year, aims to foster visual art respecting individuality and focuses on film making from the women’s perspective and films featuring women. The Embassy has given its support for the Aichi Film Festival which provides a forum to promote Filipino culture, art, family values and gender empowerment.
“K’na the Dreamweaver” is the first film directed by Ms. Del Mundo, a writer, journalist and musician who got her inspiration to become a film maker from her father, Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr., a Filipino screenwriter, director, and author.
Ms. Del Mundo and Ms. Mara Lopez Yokohama, whose father is Japanese, (photos left) were proud to inform the viewers that the film, which was also shown within the week in New York and Geneva, won the Special Jury Prize and Best Production Design Award in Cinemalaya 2014 and the top prize at the Female Eye International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada in June 2015. They expressed the hope that independent film makers, who only started film production 10 years ago, would continue to gain public support with their works viewed in the regular showing of movie houses.
Mr. Yokohama, CDA Asuque, Ms. Yokohama, Ms. Del Mundo, Mrs. Asuque
Chargé d’ Affaires (CDA) and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Philippine Embassy, Mr. Gilberto G.B. Asuque, congratulated Ms. Del Mundo and Ms. Yokohama for the premier of the film at the 20th Aichi International Women’s Film Festival. Two other Filipino films were shown during the festival, namely, “That Thing Called Tadhana“ directed by Antoinette Hilario Jadaone, and “Ang Kababihan ng Malolos” directed by Sari Dalena and Kiri Dalena. CDA Asuque thanked Mr. Takeuchi for the invitation to the Philippines to participate in the film festival and show Filipino culture and art.
