One of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) projects in helping the country to build stronger ties with neighboring Southeast Asian countries is through a film festival that will feature movies from Southeast Asia.

Back for its third consecutive year and to celebrate the International Year of Indigenous Languages, Tingin will showcase stories that will center on indigenous people. The films will come from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries on Sept. 26 to 29.

[READ: It’s all about Southeast Asia in the first TINGIN Asean Film Festival ]

“NCCA is holding ‘Tingin,’ as well as other projects, to encourage Filipinos to gain a deeper understanding of and therefore form closer ties with our Southeast Asian peers. This year, Tingin takes up the cudgels for indigenous people, who continue to be marginalized in society,” said Anne Luis, head of the International Affairs Section of the NCCA.

*Photo courtesy of Tingin Film Festival*

Aside from the film festival, filmmakers like Edmund Yeo of Malaysia, Nontawat Numbenchapol of Thailand and Bagane Fiole from the Philippines, will also host masterclasses on film making. The directors will share their experiences and creative processes to students, film practitioners, and walk-in moviegoers. Also to promote film education, Tingin will also hold lectures on the art of watching movies, the indigenous people and their representation in Philippine cinema.

“Most of the films feature in the festival will shine a light on their [indigenous people] struggles but also on their fascinating cultures. Many of these films also celebrate indigenous’ languages which are in danger of becoming extinct. Language, which is a carrier of culture, must be safeguarded,” Luis added.

Festival programmer Patrick Campos said that in choosing the film selections for this year, he was guided by what he calls “the notion of place”.

“[It is] how people and individuals make home places, how their places are disrupted or invaded, how they are displaced, and how they make new places out of inhospitable situations or fight for their places,” Campos said.

Tingin Film Festival will run at the Shangri-la Plaza Mall Red Carpet Cinema and is open and free for the public.

Header photo courtesy of Tingin Film Festival

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