A Talaandig-Manobo indigenous trans woman must uphold her community’s culture by becoming a Babaylan, a Filipino queer shaman. Amid the destruction of her ancestral land in Bukidnon, Philippines, she finds meaning in her ancestry and embraces her destiny.
Gab Mejia (he/they) is a queer Filipino photographer, multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, environmental engineer, and National Geographic Explorer. Born and raised by the Philippine archipelago, he explores and weaves the different fabrics of visual storytelling, environmental design, and ecology through the arts, photography, poetics, and participatory research.
David (he/they) is an art curator working in the intersections of queerness, spirituality and ecology. In 2021 he co-founded Emerging Islands, a coastal art residency in La Union, Philippines working to create interdisciplinary stories of ecology and the archipelago, rooted in community experience.
Miko Reyes (he/him) is a filmmaker whose work is heavily influenced by his dance background. Having worked on fashion films, music videos, and brand advertisements, he intends to inject his unique understanding of motion and musicality into his films.
Antonio Lantong Dagoc Jr. (them) is the head babaylan (indigenous shaman) of the Talaandig-Manobo indigenous community and by status, spiritual leader of the entire province of Bukidnon. He is also lead director and performer for Kulahi Pangantucan Performing Arts, an indigenous youth group telling old-new stories of their community’s history and traditions.
Screening as part of This is not a promise, but a prayer.
