2020 | 2h 37m | English subtitles
Written and Directed by: Lav Diaz
Starring: Nanding Josef, Bart Guingona, Don Melvin Boongaling, Hazel Orencio, Noel Sto. Domingo, Joel Saracho
Date: Friday, October 11, 2024 | 6:30 PM
Venue: NYU Espacio de Culturas | 53 Washington Sq S, NYC 10012
RSVP Link: https://bit.ly/panawin-f24
Free and open to the public, registration is required.
Synopsis
An arduous trek home by three goldminers through a dense forest becomes a journey into the heart of darkness. As buried histories emerge, a sense of psychosis invades the scene.
Director’s Notes
I once was asked to define man, the so-called human beings, supposedly the most superior inhabitant of planet Earth, and due to the moment’s urgency, for a quick reply, all I could muster was an animal simile (Man is an animal), and I felt terrible, I thought I fumbled, but then looking back now, it was in fact the better answer. Yes, in fact, man remains on that level, animal. And I came upon a discourse exactly on this matter: that despite us being the better-developed species, most of us still retain the demeanor and comportment of the chimpanzee, the genus Pan, part of Hominidae, the great primate family. And, so, by nature, we are violent, aggressive, obsessive, transgressive, imposing, envious, territorial, narcissistic and egotistical, very much like our cousin, the genus Pan. But then, there’s hope, the study says that the human brain is still developing and once it has achieved full development, man shall be complete, a truly self-actualized species, altruistic, saintly and true, just like Buddha, Gandhi, Christ and the farmer, Mang Osting, who generously provides for my vegetarian needs. Thus, this film, Lahi, Hayop... it has always been my desire to make a film about animals; but, man as animals, man honestly acting like one, an animal, as he has been acting like an animal all his life anyway.
Curator’s Notes
Genus Pan developed from the 40-minute short, Hugaw (Dirt), that Diaz made for the 2018 anthology film Lakbayan (Journeys). Also contributing to the portmanteau, with its broad theme of Fiipino journeys, were two other internationally acclaimed directors Kidlat Tahimik and Brillante Mendoza. Diaz’s contribution tells the story of three gold miners on a homeward trek through the island of Hugaw that ends in tragic crime. As Diaz was shooting the short film on the island of Culion, threads were developing in his mind for a full-length film. Using the same actors, he went back to Culion to shoot further footage. The crime story of Hugaw becomes in Genus Pan a vision of the human being in his primal nature as not much better than those of the genus Pan, the sub-family that includes chimpanzees and bonobos. In its uncompromising depiction of the beast inside the human being, Genus Pan recalls another black-and-white film, from the earliest years of cinema, that depicts man’s basest nature with an unblinking gaze, Erich von Stroheim’s Greed.
Until the revelations emerge in the latter part of the story, the three gold miners seem different enough from each other, even as they have all been through the exploitative conditions of the gold mine. The hardened Baldo (Nanding Josef) suffers no qualms in exploiting his fellow travelers as he demands a share of their wages even in their times of need. Paulo (Bart Guingona) appears as an exemplar of the religious man, prayerful and conciliatory. The youngest, Andres (Don Melvin Boongaling), obsesses on finding the means to help a sister facing daunting medical bills.
Memories, dreams, myths, hallucinations, and suspicions accompany the men on a journey that leads to psychosis and unraveling. Among the memories are stories on how entrenched oligarchs, foreign colonizers and invaders, and criminals have corrupted the collective consciousness of the island’s inhabitants.
However bleak the vision, an underlying current of grace suffuses the film, in the preternatural beauty of nature (captured in sparkling black-and-white by Diaz who worked as the film’s cinematographer in addition to writer, producer, director, editor and song composer). Some of the characters stumble through attempts at contrition and expiation, even if outside pressures or their own weaknesses or traumas inevitably drag them down. There is a hope that the physically disabled Mariposa (Hazel Orencio) could escape the grip of the past.
Genus Pan won the Orizzonti Best Director award at the pandemic-confined 2020 Venice Film Festival. Diaz’s acceptance statement called attention to what light may come from an unblinking apprehension of the basest of man’s nature:
“Thank you to the many in my long list of people who helped make Lahi, Hayop. Again, cinema is for the country, for humanity. They say that the film is dark and sorrowful but no, instead it sympathizes with the world’s struggle to rise from the darkness it has fallen into.”
About the Director
Lav Diaz, known for the contemplative nature of his films, is arguably the most internationally acclaimed Philippine filmmaker. His works include Batang West Side (Gawad Urian Best Picture), Melancholia (Venice Orizzonti Best Film), Norte: The End of History (Cannes Un Certain Regard Official Selection), From What Is Before (Locarno Golden Leopard), Death in the Land of Encantos (Venice Orizzonti Special Mention), Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mysteries (Silver Bear at Berlin where Jury President Meryl Streep said: “This man: He changed the molecules of my brain.”), Genus Pan (Venice Orizzonti Best Director) and The Woman Who Left (Venice Golden Lion for Best Film). Most recently, his Phantosmia premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, the eighth time a film of his was selected for the world’s oldest film festival.
Major Lav Diaz retrospectives have been held in several cities, including New York (Film Society of Lincoln Center), Brisbane (Australian Cinematheque), Seoul (Korean Film Archive), São Paulo, and Paris (Jeu de Paume).
Diaz is the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Prince Claus Award of the Netherlands, and Harvard University’s Radcliffe Fellowship. Diaz accepted the invitation for membership by The American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. He has received the Lifetime Achievement awards from the Filipino Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Gawad Urian. The laurels have failed to lull Diaz into blissful repose. His continues to shuttle between homes in Queens, New York, and Marikina, Metromanila, and his output remains as prodigious as ever.
Two of Diaz’s most famous films — Norte: The End of History and The Woman Who Left— are available on DVD/Blu-ray at the NYU Library and the New York Public Library.
— Gil Quito, Curator
Awards for Genus, Pan
- Venice Film Festival – Orizzonti Best Director
- Gawad Urian – Best Screenplay; Best Actor (Nanding Josef), Best Supporting Actress (Hazel Orencio)