This documentary features the endangered languages of the Dupaninan Agta in Isabela, and the Tandulanen Tagbanua in Palawan, Philippines. The film follows the journey of Consuelo (Sue Prado) and Robert (Kalil Almonte) against the backdrop of the changing ecosystem in the grasslands of Isabela, where endemic grasses are being slowly displaced by invasive foreign species, and ends in the beaches of Palawan once inhabited by mythological crabs. As a poetic and lyrical rumination on the beauty of words, this film shows how language is indeed the soul of a culture.
The film raises questions as to the validity of ethnographic intervention in the preservation of dying languages, raising once more the contentious debate between etic and emic, the outsider and insider, viewpoints in ethnography.
This film also features a previously undocumented folksong sung by one of the tribal leaders. As Baket Edna sings this folksong, Consuelo recounts a summary of an Agta epic song already forgotten, but recorded and transcribed several years back by linguists and researchers much like Consuelo. The title is multi-layered as “mappya” both means beautiful and good or kind, and “kakkagi” both means language and noise.
For special and block screenings, please forward your inquiry to: rolyo2007.productions@gmail.com.
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