Lumad Image-making in Baboy Halas (2016) through Intercultural Filmmaking

This essay examines the processes involved in intercultural filmmaking, a mode of filmmaking practiced in the production of Baboy Halas (2016) directed by Bagane Fiola where the non-Indigenous filmmaker and the Indigenous community of Matigsalug collaborated in creating their screen images. It discusses how intercultural filmmaking allows the Lumad to enact cinematic agency in constructing their identities on screen. In addition to this, it outlines how this mode of production enables groups from different cultures to forge connections through filmmaking and cultivate ethical relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups. I draw from interview data with the filmmaker and an analysis of the film to demonstrate intercultural filmmaking as a production practice that allows the minoritized segments of the nation to take control of their cinematic images. In this mode of production, there is acknowledgment and recognition of the Lumad’s agency in creating their own images. In this light, intercultural filmmaking serves as a productive site to initiate a filmmaking practice that is non-colonizing. It also provides a platform for the Lumad to address the lack of diverse representation of the Indigenous in Filipino cinema and allow them to become visible in our cinematic culture.