‘Busong’ shows Filipinos respect nature

AURAEUS Solito at the fest theater in Washington, DC Raffy Gorospe

The timing couldn’t be more appropriate.

Coming on the heels of the National Geographic exposé on the country’s purported involvement in the illegal ivory trade, Filipino filmmaker Auraeus Solito’s “Busong” was honored at the international organization’s 8th All Roads Film Festival held in Washington, DC, last week.

In the October issue of National Geographic magazine, high officials of the Roman Catholic Church were implicated in the smuggling of ivory, which is used in crafting religious images. Ivory is obtained by killing elephants and a few other endangered animals.

“Busong,” which recounts folk tales from Palawan, has been described as a lyrical tribute to the environmental cause.

“It is through cinema that we discover our people’s true indigenous soul; not from our colonizers’ religion, which has been corrupted and has given our country a negative image abroad,” Solito told the Inquirer in an e-mail interview. “We are not child abusers and ivory smugglers. We are a people who are one with nature.”

He explained that Filipinos value Mother Earth, “for when we respect nature, it respects us back.”

Solito won the fest’s top prize, the Merata Mita Award—named after a pioneering female Maori filmmaker from New Zealand.

“I feel deeply honored to win this award because I had the privilege of meeting Merata seven years ago at the ImagineNative film fest in Canada,” Solito recalled. “She saw my documentary, ‘Basal Banar.’ She had such a strong, mystical presence. Like a loving earth mother. I was saddened to learn of her passing two years ago.”

He dedicated his trophy, which depicts an indigenous corn goddess, to his ancestors and mother who passed on to him the folk tales of his home province.

ALESSANDRA de Rossi in “Busong”

The award came as a pleasant surprise, he said. “In the middle of a projection test for my film, I was called to attend the reception for the awards rites. I didn’t even know there was a competition.”

At first, he thought he would go home empty-handed. “Then the festival director Francine Blythe announced that we got the Merata Mita award,” he related. “She explained that the honor encompassed both docus and fiction films, that it was the storytellers’ award chosen from among the 25 films shown in the fest.”

“Busong” was warmly received during the screening as well. The open forum that followed was just as “invigorating,” Solito reported.