Jally Nae Gabaliga

The Chanters is a comedy-drama film about Sarah Mae, a 12 year old school girl, the grand-daughter of the last chanter of the Panay Bukidnon tribe. She obsesses with pop culture and readies herself for the visit of a sensational TV star to her school. As she perfects her dance, her grandfather, Lolo Ramon suffers the onset of dementia. As her Lolo starts losing his precious memories, Sarah Mae is tasked to help him complete the last of the remaining 12 epics, their tribe’s vanishing tradition.

Waking up in a nightmare before the sunrise of December 30, 2020, the indigenous community of the Tumandok was suddenly surrounded by fear. Panambi features the stories of bright memories of the past and the despair of having now as a mere memory of the future without a trace of justice; how they lived and what they lived for. A decades-long struggle is shot, one in the lens of a mother paralyzed by fear; another from a mother raged and moved by fear—both looking forward to a better tomorrow.