Kristian Sendon Cordero

Don Victorino Hernandez, a creole secular priest from Manila, has two passions: botany and the total conversion of the native population particularly the Agtas, who in spite of the rigorous undertakings of Spanish colonialism continue to live in the hinterlands, giving them a notorious reputation in the minds of the lowlanders as well as the colonizers.

Set in the lake town of Buhi, Camarines Sur, this documentary feature weaves the intricate and entangled relationship of folk narratives, the Catholic religious drama, and the people’s everyday resistance as reflected in the selected sculptural works of the Agta.

Nora, a transwoman seamstress from Tabaco City, Albay, finds herself alone with her sewing machine amid the lockdowns, dealing with how culture and religion have been interrupted.

A woman returns to the village of Kagbunga in the Bikol region carrying the ashes of her only son via the old train that circles her universe like the tandayag, the primordial serpent. In a filial act of mourning, she will reckon and reconcile the thin line that exists between tragedy and transcendence and prove and that even the most broken life can be restored to its moments.

The night before the lockdown, while reviewing some unused footages from my latest film project (Hinulid), a small box from an anonymous sender arrives. The box contains a Bikol translation of the Tagalog long poem, Ibong Adarna, and an egg.