SAPI: Filipino Supernatural Threats!

With the last screening of Sapi today, you might want to brush up on your supernatural threats of the Philippines. Sure it might be all a media hoax, but still, who wants to be licked to death?

First up, spirit possession and soul loss. If you are placed in a frightening or startling situation, your soul could be knocked right out of you. Even more, if you have been rude or thoughtless or malicious or have just run across the wrong mangkukulam or bruha, (practitioner of black magic), you can get the whammy put on you and end up possessed. Spirit possession is a big problem.

In 2011, 56 students were possessed at Compostela National High School in the Philippines. (And this CNN article reporting on it is really asking for some whammy). In June, 2013, 22 elementary school students exhibited signs of spirit possession.

School administrators have suspended  classes in an elementary school in Mandaluyong City on Thursday after "evil spirits" possessed 20 students.

Report said some of the female students of Isaac Lopez Elementary  School on Barangay Vergara began yelling while others fainted inside the classroom.

Teachers rushed to the scene and tried to restrain the "possessed" students from hurting themselves, the report added.

After calming down, four of the students told the teachers that they saw images of a mother and a child. They also saw an image of a man in black clothes.

Due to the commotion, school officials decided to suspend classes for the whole day.

They had apparently been playing a divination game beforehand, but school principal Loida Matic reports that they were faking possession. Still, even if you feel you have a good hold on your soul,  be careful out there. The spirits of the jealous dead and malicious spirits (Hantu Demon) might just be thinking of moving in. Of course, there are several other supernatural threats to be aware of.

Manananggal in flight via here.

Dila:  A dila won't possess you, but it will lick you to death. Yes, to death. It is a tongue spirit and you know where it comes from? Through the floor. Possession isn't looking so bad, now, is it?

Membabarang: Female black magic practitioner who will make insects come out of you. (Note: Do not annoy a membabarang).

Manananggal: Sometimes also called or considered an aswang, a manananggal is a spirit, usually of a woman who died in childbirth, whose upper body flies around on wings, with viscera dangling, while her lower body remains in place as a roost. Manananggal hide out on the roofs of women in childbirth or pregnant women and try to eat the babies/fetuses by sticking their very long tongues through chinks in the roof and into the woman. Then they suck out the baby/fetus. So, ladies, keep your roofs patched!

Tiyanak: And also, you should probably not investigate any baby's crying you might here. Tiayanak are ghosts of dead babies who pretend to be cute, helpless babies left behind in the forest. Then they eat you. Of course, if you can't resist the pitiful cries of a baby, always keep a silver spike on hand for dealing with any tiyanak you encounter.

So, yeah. Be careful out there!
 

SAPI Final Screening:

Sunday, Sept 15th, 3:00 PM SCOTIABANK 14

CELESTIAL WIVES OF THE MEADOW MARI Director Profile: Alexey Fedorchenko

Director Alexey Fedorchenko began his film career in a most peculiar way: by not. Initially earning a degree in economics in his hometown of Yekaterinburg, Russia, it was years later that he started working in the documentary facility of Sverdlovsk Studios and then in the screenwriting department of the Russian Institute of Cinematography. So it only makes sense that Fedorchenko began his career making short documentaries. 

For his first feature film, First on the Moon (2005), Fedorchenko combined his experience with documentary with the fantastical to end up with a "mockumentary" about the the "first" landing on the Moon in the 1930s by the Soviets. Shot in gorgeous black and white, Fedorchenko described the story as "something of an homage to the generation of our fathers and grandfathers, including their honesty, their genuine belief in an ideal". The film was celebrated by critics both in Russia and around the world and went on to win a handful of awards, including one from the Venice Film Festival. Two short clips from First on the Moon can be viewed here. 

Fedorchenko has been quoted as saying that "all fictional films are fairytales, fairytale for adults, done in different genres." Silent Souls (2010), Fedorchenko's second feature film, holds true to this. Silent Souls was a road movie based on short story and rich in the folklore and traditions of the Meyra people. Silent Souls impressed countless critics, including Roger Ebert, who commented that the "profound and immensely touching film in only 75 perfect minutes achieves the profundity of an epic." It was considered a frontrunner for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and went on to win the Golden Osella for Cinematography. You can watch the trailer below: 

Not quite ready to leave Russian folklore behind, Fedorchenko further explores this theme in Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari, screening at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Working again with the same screenwriter from Silent Souls, Fedorchenko wove together 23 vignettes about love, beauty, and female sexuality. Words really don't even begin to describe this magical film, so we urge you to watch the trailer. Even if you've watched it already, watch it again. You know you want to:

CELESTIAL WIVES OF MEADOW MARI Screening Times:

• Wednesday, Sept 11th, 7:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 4
• Thursday, Sept 12th, 9:15 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2
• Saturday, Sept 14th, 9:30 AM SCOTIABANK 8