Revered CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts recipient, Palanca Hall of Fame writer, editor, and professor Jose "Butch" Dalisay Jr calls the film "not just a story of a little island nor the city of Sagay but a story of the nation itself in microcosm". He further says, "I have often remarked in my writings how so little of our literature reflects our maritime life as we are a nation surrounded by water. I'm glad to see it in this film and I hope to see more treatments like this, not only in film but also in our literature."

Amon Banwa sa Lawud is a lyrical take to Wilder's meta-theatrical Our Town and Pagsanghan's nostalgic Doon Po sa Amin. It explores the resilience of a fishing community in the Philippines confronting the threat of invasion by a foreign power, which resonates with what is happening over the islands in the West Philippine Sea. But deeper than this is Juan's poetic ode to the nation's history of colonialism, feudalism, and capitalism slowly being forgotten.

"The best antidote to fake news is through [artistic] fiction," Dalisay continues. "The truth that this film has presented to us is the fact that we, Filipinos, should remember and learn the value of the things most important and dearest to us as a people: our family, our homes, our communities, and our resources. And also, we should recognise the threats to our happiness, as shown in this film: the encroachment of invading alien forces into our territory. This film is a very important reminder to us of what it is to be Filipino and what we should do as Filipinos in these uncertain times ahead."

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The making of the film followed Juan's workshop and two stage productions of Pagsanghan's Doon Po sa Amin with The Performance Laboratory, a theatre group headed by The Negros Museum's executive director Tanya P Lopez, from the year before. The actors featured in the film are a mix of local talents from the aforementioned productions and the locals from Suyac Island. 

Amon Banwa sa Lawud follows the lives, hopes, and fates of the young couple Celia (Apple Ablanque) and Delfin (Kent John Desamparado), their parents Crismon (Roger Venzal) and Delia (Leezo Dionzon), Rafael (Nonilon Torpez) and Sol (Ezra Mae Divino), the mute boatman Gabo (Rafael Amit), one of the island community's influential women Violeta (Helen Cutillar), the drunk choirmaster Loding (Alfonso Macam), grade school teacher Ma'am Ellen (Rema Aguirre), kakanin vendor Merli (Amalea Jontongco), overseas worker Ester (Crystal Puying), and briefly the stories of Celia and Delfin's siblings Manoy (Dwayne Lucero) and Cristal (Adora Jontongco), the young married couple Renato (Christopher Penafiel) and Lorena (Raijkia Anne Gonzales), a fisherman (Noel Pahayupan), and the parish priest (Wally Afuang). 

The film jumps perspectives from one character to another, like stories of people being shared to the moon. As a witness and listener to these non-linear narratives, the moon shifts from pale blue to yellowish white to the dark cloud-covered and bloody red that reflects the sand. Celia's afterlife reflects ancient cultures' symbolism of the boat and sea as a journey to the other side. Fortunately, nature played its part in improving the scenes by painting such majestically beautiful sunsets, sunrises, and moonrises. Director of Photography Nathan Bringuer of Green Pelican Studios shares during the press conference that they had to pack up because of two typhoons that interrupted their original filming schedule. They were always at the mercy of nature throughout their shooting, he recalls.

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Palanca Hall of Fame fictionist, playwright, and poet Elsa Martinez Coscolluela shares that the film is a "poetic experience" she is grateful to have as it is truly one of its kind. "Anton has given us this masterpiece, bringing us to a time when life was simpler, idyllic, unadulterated and innocent," she says. "People living in a village community, loving and sharing their simple life and simple dreams while enjoying the beauty of our natural environment. The cinematography was beautiful, giving us a hauntingly beautiful experience." Coscolluela hopes that the film would be seen internationally "so that we can be recognised as a people, as a nation."

With the community of Suyac also being part of the cast, albeit in supporting roles, Amon Banwa sa Lawud crosses realism, verité, and mythopoeia in depicting rural island life. "I did not see any actors or performers," Coscolluela asserts. "I felt genuine people moving about their daily lives and experiencing intrusions into their idyllic setting and how they have coped with this. Also, this has been a metaphor for how our lives turned out to be, whether we are alive or we pass on [to the afterlife]. It's beautifully depicted, how the boatman transports us from the present to eternity."

'No island should ever be forgotten'

CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts recipient, and twice knighted by the French government for his contributions to the Philippine performing and literary arts, Juan's first film Taong Grasa is one of the precursors in independent filmmaking shot in 8mm. It follows a scavenger through the bowels of the city and becomes its historian. Based on his Palanca Award-winning play in 1982, the film earned him the Eagle Award at the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines and prompted the use of 'taong grasa' in the Filipino dictionary. Recently, he had his 2016 film Woven Wings of our Children as part of the View into Asian Cinema segment of the 2016 Busan International Film Festival. Adapted from his play Hinabing Pakpak ng Ating mga Anak, the film tackled the plight of street children and their journey to rise out of poverty and abuse. Dubbed enfant terrible, Juan has been known for his decades-long career in the local and international theatre and literary scene focused on social justice. For Amon Banwa sa Lawud, Juan did not hold back in voicing out current social problems such as the attempt to remove Philippine history from the education curriculum, the deeply ingrained injustice over the Negrense sacadas, the enduring environmental issue of illegal logging, and the threat of rising neocolonial powers in the South China Sea

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Aside from the Insular Lumber Company's train that is being exhibited publicly in Plaza Sagay, which is a harrowing reminder of the deforestation in Negros during the American Colonial Period, another inspiration for the film's socio-political backdrop is the Chinese ship Yuemaobinyu 42212 that rammed and sank a Philippine fishing vessel in Recto (Reed) Bank in 2019. In Amon Banwa sa Lawud, this ship's name was inscribed on a floater that Gabo, the boatman, found adrift. The film ends with a haunting montage that echoes all these and more, leaving us the question of "Will this island still be ours?"

The preview at Cinematheque Center in Bacolod was followed by a special preview in Sagay City that is specifically for the people of Suyac, most of whom had cameos in the film and worked in the logistics. There, Juan emphasised to the community to not forget the last line of the film.

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With the people of Suyac, members of the Performance Laboratory and The Negros Museum, and the crew of Green Pelican Studios as major contributors to the creation of this regional cinema masterpiece, former Film Development Council of the Philippines chair Liza Diño-Seguerra shares that she has high hopes for the continued flourishing of the Negrense cinema.

"There's just so much purity in the way that these narratives are being told," Diño-Seguerra says. "Nationally, I believe that we have to take advantage of that opportunity of collaboration between distinguished masters in their craft and cultural workers from the regions. What I could say to filmmakers out there is to be mindful and open yourselves up to these opportunities. . .What Sir Anton has brought here with Ms Helen (cast member and location manager of the film, and liaison officer for Sagay City) and Ms Tanya is the practice of building communities, and being united in pursuing a single cause."

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Aside from raising the bar for regional cinema and sharing the story of the nation, Juan aims for the film to put Suyac Island on the map respectfully—contrary to what had happened to Baler, Pagsanjan, and Iba in the making of Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola. "If people find out the beauty of Sagay and Suyac Island, and they exploit these places with the kind of ‘development’ they have in mind, then capitalism in filmmaking will destroy that 'purity' of the place and people," Juan shares.

Amon Banwa sa Lawud does not translate to "our island of the mangrove moons" but Juan chose it because the science behind the growth of these mangrove trees was the poetic foundation of the story. "I hope that one day, the mangroves will tell their stories when something threatens the island. They should warn our people. Nowadays, they make us try to forget our islands and our people. Our message here is that 'no island nor people should ever be forgotten'. Myth moves into memories, and memories into histories, and that is crucial. Let us not forget that," Juan concludes.

Amon Banwa sa Lawud is produced by the Erehwon Center for the Arts, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA), The Negros Museum, Sagay City, and Green Pelican Studios.

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