'Mana' presents experimental short films on memory, impermanence, connection

What connects us with the lives before us?

MANA brings together four experimental short films from Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines-stories of intangible inheritance and generational memory. Programmed by Ralph Barrientos, the 64-minute screening reflects on family, connection, and impermanence.

Lineup:

Makoko sa Baybay (2023) | Mikael Joaquin

I am a Beautiful Beached Whale by the Straits (2014) | Salty Xi Jie Ng

Si Ligaya (2024) | Mama’s Boy Collective

Tulip-chan (2024) | Watanabe Saki

Screening Dates and Venues:

December 12 at -+*, Garapata Store, Cubao X

December 13 at Co.Lab, 118 Malumanay St.

Presented together with Araya, Minus Plus Asterisk & Garapata Store, and Intersections@Co.Lab

Makoko sa Baybay - Noor invites his younger brother Jolo to go to the beach. Noor teases him that someone found the sea monster who killed their mother, a story they both believe in. When they reach the beachfront, they sit on the sand facing the sea, waiting for the sun to set. The brothers have a conversation by the beach, waiting for the sea creature to appear. Suddenly, they vaguely see a magical ship from the horizon instead..

I am a beautiful beached whale by the straits - The unique, gently sparkling universe of elderly women is traversed in this film with a surreal, intimate lens, through the everyday lives and intimate thoughts of the filmmaker’s grandmothers. These converse with meditative images of an elderly lady at a beach, twinkling on the shore of another cosmos.

Si Ligaya - A true story about a pregnant 19 year old baby talking to her 20 year old baby, talking about their 21 year old baby. The short film reflects on how hope is pulled from guilt, shame, and mental illness, providing a glimpse into the lives of one expecting mother and one suspecting mother.

Tulip Chan - When a woman is approached by a girl who claims to be her daughter from the future, she begins to reflect on her own childhood and adolescence. From her dream as a young girl to live longer than her own grandmother, to her teenage uncertainty about whether she would be able to grow up in the ways society expects of her. A quirky, offbeat and singular animation, with unique characters and a peculiar charm. – Koen de Rooij

Film Maker Profiles

Mikael Joaquin - Filipino filmmaker based in Bolinao, Pangasinan. A graduate of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, he specializes in documentary production and writing. In his films, he pays homage to his roots as an Ilocano filmmaker. He features narratives inspired by local folktales that deal about personal memories and dreams. He re-examines and challenges the barriers between reality and fantasy through his stories. He was awarded as Best Director in the Short Film category for Makoko sa Baybay in Cinemalaya 2023.

Salty Xi Jie Ng - Salty Xi Jie Ng co-creates semi fictional paradigms for the real and imagined lives of humans within the poetics of the intimate vernacular. Often playing with the aesthetics of social relations and structures, her interdisciplinary work is manifested from fantasy scores for the present and future that propose a collective re-imagining through humour, care, subversion, play, discomfort, a celebration of the eccentric, and a commitment to the deeply personal. Her practice dances across forms such as brief encounter, collaborative space, poem, conversation, meal, publication, film, performance.

Mama’s Boy Collective - Mama's Boy Collective: Tanya Villanueva and Luna Madrigal is a mother and child visual artist duo. They have been working together since 2010, back when Luna was 8 years old. In 2018, their collaboration became more intentional and produced a new media installation at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Over the years, their work has evolved from working together to produce photography based works to an exploration of the performance and intersecting nature of art-making and family-life and generational healing through various mediums such as moving images, performance and photography. Their work is informed by their lived experience as a solo parental working class family both living with bi-polar disorder.

WATANABE Saki - Born in 2001, from Japan. Graduated from the Department of Film and Media, Tohoku University of Art & Design. Her graduation project, a short animated film "Tulip-chan", was selected for multiple film festivals in Japan. In February 2025, it was officiallyinvited and screened in the Short & Mid-length program at the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam.