BALANGIGA: HOWLING WILDERNESS
Dir. Khavn, 2017
The Philippines. 112 min
In Tagalog with English subtitles

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 – 5 PM
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 – 7:30 PM

Set in 1901 during the American occupation of the Philippines, BALANGIGA: HOWLING WILDERNESS, is a hallucinogenic western road trip through a violent landscape. Fleeing the town of Balangiga, the site of a real massacre by the Americans, 8 year old Kulas, his grandfather, their ox, and the orphaned toddler whom they rescued, encounter all sorts of surreal figures in the wilderness. From chronically masturbating shamans (experimental Filipino animator Roxlee in a cameo) to desperate Americans lost in the forest to swooping drone shots over-saturated colors, Khavn crafts a unique blend of brutality, absurdity, childish reverie, and desperation.

Screening with:

ULTIMO: DIFFERENT WAYS OF KILLING A NATIONAL HERO
Dir. Khavn, 2006
The Philippines. 6 min
In Tagalog with English subtitles

“Khavn’s poignant, black-and-white riff on Filipino national hero Jose Rizal is reflective of the director’s restless experimentation and unmistakable energy. Shot in Spain (the Philippines’ former colonizer) in about a week, the abstract string of scenes of play and contemplation has a thrown-together feel but deepens with the intricate flamenco guitar score (the movie’s is otherwise silent) and the intertitles of Rizal’s proud-martyr verse.” — Nicolas Rapold, Film Comment