Babaylan X
BABAYLAN X
Babaylan X is a meta-film whose narrative revolves around an actress named Julia dela Luna and her staple role as the daughter of the fantastic babaylan. The genealogy of the political family she belongs to defines the History of the setting. The Father, Nick dela Luna, displays the fallacies of the “traditional politico” and his numbness to this role brings profanity to the story. A quiet portrayal of Julia’s struggle expounds on her pain of being born into this family. As Julia’s self becomes conscious to what her existence entails, her world splits. Forever changed by the experience of seeing her father near death, she begins to understand the images in her dreams, enabling her to find her Calling.
Babaylan X places feminism at the center of its study and explores a specific historical ethnographic
interpretation in Filipino culture in the form of babaylanism. It uses the
constructs of Counter-Cinema, specifically the language of Metafilm in order to externalize
the babaylan experience in the form of cinema. It puts forth the cinematic elements of
Patriarchal Reality, Cinematic Reality, Narrative Reality, Camera Reality, Dream, Memory,
and Fantasy as the building blocks of this new kind of cinema form.