Ilocano epic soon an animated film

ILOCOS Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, president of Creative Media Society of the Philippines, the organization spearheading the project

LAOAG CITY—The Ilocano epic poem “Biag ni Lam-Ang (The Life of Lam-Ang)” will soon be an animated movie, according to Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, president of the Creative Media Society of the Philippines or CreaM.

Marcos said CreaM has been working on a three-volume graphic novel, “Lam-Ang Revisited,” based on the epic.

“It will be released soon, and one after the other. We’re almost done with the last volume,” she told Inquirer Entertainment during the recent three-day Ilocos Norte Sineng Pambasa Festival here. “Nabitin kami sa graphic novel format so we plan to animate it. Anyway, animation with little motion graphics is the trend now.”

Marcos, who was a film and TV producer in the 1970s and ’80s, has been actively promoting the arts in the region. In July, the province hosted “Looking for Johnny Moon—The First Ilocos Norte Digital Arts Festival,” a three-day event held at the Plaza Del Norte Hotel and Convention Hall, which had filmmakers Soxy Topacio and Mark Meily as guest speakers.

“We all had fun,” Marcos recalled. “A lot of animators, game developers and directors attended. About 350 kids registered. It was a first. Everyone came wearing a mustache just like Juan Luna’s.”

Post-modern incarnation

According to a Facebook site created for the event, Johnny Moon is the “postmodern incarnation of Juan Luna, world-renowned painter and a beloved son of Ilocos Norte.” The site adds: “The 21st century is the renaissance of the Ilocano genius, the dawning of a new breed of Johnny Moon who will blend innovative art in the digital world.”

“Since Ilocos is not as accessible as Manila or Cebu, we’re gunning for higher value on areas like filmmaking and animation,” said Marcos, who offered incentives to film producers during the Sineng Pambansa film fest, with the aim of making the region a prime location for film production.

“Other local governments are also doing their share of promoting the country. Camarines Sur governor LRay Villafuerte already has an animation studio in his province. Our group is starting this and the province of Ilocos is helping. We can push further in interactive and game development. We’re lucky—this province has a lot of engineers and computer scientists.”

Marcos supports the aim of the Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (Acpi), producer of the annual Animahenasyon Philippine Animation Festival, in promoting original Filipino content. CreaM has produced the short films “Fly Aswang,” “Likas Ligtas: Gubat at Dagat,” the mixed-media film “Pinta*Kasi” and the documentary “Barefoot Beauties.”

“We’re hoping to coordinate with Acpi soon. We need their input on some of our projects,” the governor said. “We’re also working out things with game developers and in-game advertisers (IGAs). We have a lot of scientists here but lack people in design, graphics and arts. Yun ang papasukan namin. We hope this gets us somewhere.”