Southern Lantern Studios shines a light in Cinemalaya
Southern Lantern Studios shines a light in Cinemalaya
In its twentieth year, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival promises to unveil the “loob, lalim, at lakas” of local independent cinema. Hoping to be at the forefront of that endeavor is Southern Lantern Studios.
The brainchild of filmmakers Sheron Dayoc, Sonny Calvento, and Arden Rod Condez, Southern Lantern Studios brought an impressive six films to the festival, ranging from shorts to features. That can already be its own entire program, I joked with Condez, who is producer and creative head, in our conversation ahead of Cinemalaya.
The indie film company has been busy producing films since last year and sending them out to various corners of the world. One such is the game show satire short Primetime Mother, which premiered in the most recent edition of the Toronto International Film Festival.
And there’s no shortage of homecoming stories for the studio: The Gospel of the Beast, after bagging top festival honors in Vietnam and Indonesia, finally arrives on local shores as it opens Cinemalaya. It’s also a full-circle moment for its lead Jansen Magpusao, who makes a comeback four years after his breakout performance in John Denver Trending.
In the Gawad Alternatibo program, One Day, Three Autumns and All The Time round out the studio’s shorts slate.
“We applied for those films to be accepted, and we were lucky enough to get in,” Condez said.
Stories that matter
Filmmaking duo Richard Salvadico and Kat Sumagaysay’s docu-fiction film Tumandok, this year’s Cinemalaya Best Full-Length Feature, follows the Ati community in Sitio Kabarangkalan, Iloilo, and their fight to reclaim their ancestral lands.
Salvadico and Sumagaysay were part of a pandemic mentoring program organized by Southern Lantern and approached Condez with a project about the Ati people, the first drafts of Tumandok. The film took nearly two years to make because of painstaking preparations such as dialoguing with the Ati and getting clearance from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
Production was a literal uphill battle: filming equipment had to be carried across the mountainous terrain of Sitio Kabarangkalan, where the only modes of transportation were either through motorbike or four-by-four. “We didn’t have any ocular inspections,” Condez said. “People just arrived a day before the shoot, and that’s when we had the chance to roam around.”
The film also boasts an all-Ati cast—no professional actors. The production team conducted a workshop to familiarize the Ati with what’s at stake in their participation. “We made them understand the reason why we’re making [Tumandok], which is to help them get funding for their ancestral domain,” Condez said. Having film as a platform is already a big step into realizing that goal, but it’s not without consequences.
The team was wary of exposing the Ati to trauma all over again so they made sure to follow all processes with the NCIP as well as check in with the community. “We know the danger of this film for the Ati community,” Condez said. “That’s why consent is important for me and that they know what they’re getting into.”
On the other end of the spectrum is Love Child, a heartwarming drama about a young couple raising their child with autism in an increasingly challenging world.
Director Jonathan Jurilla was inspired by his own experience as a father of a kid with special needs. The story initially revolved around the child but later developed further to portray what family building looks like within the structures of the Philippine economy.
“It’s a very personal and highly relatable story, but we didn’t do it like a heavy drama,” Condez said.
For Love Child, Southern Lantern partnered with Regal Entertainment, the production company’s first Cinemalaya outing. And they aren’t the only major players in the festival: GMA Pictures threw its support to fellow full-length entry, Balota.
“I see it as big studios finally seeing the potential of new filmmakers to come up with diverse films,” Condez said.
While based in Metro Manila, Southern Lantern Studios aims to tell stories from all over the regions and introduce the Filipino audience to a world of cinema that is both fresh and familiar.
“We don’t do films that aren’t accessible to the public. At the end of the day we’re still in a developing country, and our people need our films more than anybody in this world.”
The 2024 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival was held from August 2 to 11 in select Ayala Malls cinemas.
