Filipiniana, 2016, 13′
featuring artists: Khavn, Ian Lomongo, Robin Palmes, Raul Funilas, Kelly De La Cruz, Leocaccio XXIII
History is a dead cow in a funnel pretending to be a detuned bassoon serenading the moon halved by expectations not so great that new emperors bow their decapitated heads but 3 cakes are always better than 3 cents in this madly turning world peeking pecking ducktards for a midnight snack on the run.
Aswang (1933), 2017, 7′
featuring artists: Khavn, Kristine Kintana, Daniel Palisa, Lily Nicolas-Cruz
The first film made in the Philippines to feature optically recorded sound was George Musser’s Ang Aswang (The Vampire). In 1932, Musser imported 50,000 PHP worth of optical sound equipment and turned his house into a studio. He spent a year shooting the film with Charles Miller as his cinematographer and William Smith as his soundman. Despite its Tagalog title, the film was actually recorded in Spanish and English. The film opened to acclaim at the Lyric on January 1, 1933, then at the Tivoli on January 4. Unfortunately, according to some observers, the sound was sometimes out of sync and inaudible.
Juan Tamad Goes To The Moon (1898), 2018, 4′
featuring artists: Khavn, Santie Navarro, Felix Opeña
Three years before Georges Méliès’ Le Voyage dans la Lune and ten years before Segundo de Chomón’s Excursion en la Luna, indigenous proto-surrealist Philippine filmmaker Narding Salome Exelsio made Nagtungo si Juan Tamad sa Buwan in 1898 while the Philippines were being sold by Spain to America for twenty million dollars (VAT not included).
Nitrate: To The Ghosts Of The 75 Lost Philippine Silent Films (1912-1933), 2013, 30′ (excerpt)
featuring artists: Richard Abelardo. Tommy C. David, Gerardo De Leon, Armando A. Herrera, Celso Ad. Castillo, Lino Brocka, Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Abstract found-footage horror using nine existing films from 1952 to 1980 to reimagine, reconstruct, simulate, commemorate, and commiserate with the seventy-five lost Philippine silent films from 1912 to 1933.
Khavn is a composer, pianist, singer, and songwriter with 23 albums, 47 feature films and 112 shorts under his belt so far (that is, at the time when this text was written; by the time you are reading it, these numbers will surely have grown). He holds the world record for the longest-ever solo piano concert without breaks for the 13-hour live score of his 13-hour film Simulacrum Tremendum in the Rotterdam International Film Festival 2016. He recently won the 2018 Gawad Urian for Best Music for his soundtrack to Balangiga: Howling Wilderness. His other bands include The Brockas, Fando & Lis, and Vigo.