FNC – Nitrate: To the Ghosts of the 75 Lost Philippine Silent Films (1912-1933)

Cinema Stories section

“The silent past is a horror film.” To this day, most of us are unaware of the history of Filipino cinema. Our rare incursions into this rich, fascinating body of work are usually limited to Lav Diaz, Lino Brocka and Mike De Leon. Khavn takes a plunge into the world of silent film through a formally experimental collage juxtaposing hundreds of film clips – fantasy for the most part – produced between 1912 and 1933. A veritable kaleidoscope of sound and vision that stands as a metaphor for the unspoken history of the Philippines, as mute as a nitrate film.

*International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023 – Cinema Regained