Limbunan

Cast and credits

Synopsis

16-year-old Ayesah is betrothed against her will to a man she has never met, the son of a rich and powerful Muslim family. She is bluntly informed of this decision by her macho father, who recently married for the second time against the will of his first wife Amina. According to Maguindanao tradition, the future bride has to spend a whole month alone in her room, preparing for the marriage, taking care of her body and choosing the dress. The person assigned to assist her is spinster Aunt Farida, while Ayesah’s little sister, 8-year-old Saripa, wanders around the countryside and along the river, living her childhood with a freedom now denied to her sister sister. Meanwhile, after a long absence, Ayesah’s first love, Maguid, comes back to the village.

The director

Born in 1976 during the struggles between the Philippines Government and Muslim secessionists, Gutierrez Mangansakan II is a photographer, producer, journalist, writer and poet, besides being director of documentaries such as House Under the Crescent Moon (2002), winner of the Cultural Centre of the Philippines Prize for Independent Film and Video. A native of the city of Pagalungan, in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao, he was appointed Defender of Cultural Heritage in the 2005 edition of the Fookien Times Philippines Yearbook thanks to his commitment in defence of the ancient Maguindanao tradition. He’s already the author of the short fiction Tea with Salman Rushdie (2005).