ASWANG

Manila in the first two years after President Rodrigo Duterte took office. His “war on drugs” leaves bodies night after night in the city’s poor districts; the perpetrators wear police badges, motorcycle helmets, or nothing at all. In “Aswang” (Philippines 2019), Alyx Ayn Arumpac follows people who must deal with the dead: a journalist who drives to the crime scenes, a forensic pathologist, a lay brother who accompanies the bereaved, and a street child whose parents are in prison and whose friends lie in the cemetery. The title refers to the monster of Philippine folklore that falls upon people at night – in the film, no one needs to invent it any more.

Arumpac filmed for three years, mostly at night, staying close to the people; the death toll the film cites ultimately stood at more than 30,000. “Aswang” premiered in 2019 at the IDFA documentary festival in Amsterdam, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize; it later screened at MoMA in New York, at True/False and at Cinéma du Réel in Paris. The film was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2020 in the Berlinale World Cinema Fund section.

Shown at the 2020 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2020 · Film Archive