Filmmaker Lav Diaz is developing a film about false ideologies and false prophets, and a separate adaptation of José Rizal's novel "Noli Me Tangere," the Filipino auteur told Variety. The announcements came as Diaz prepared to premiere "Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors" in the Venice Open section of the Venice Film Festival, marking his return to the festival where he won the Golden Lion in 2016 for "The Woman Who Left."
"Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors" examines the Spanish colonization of the Philippines in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, focusing on the period after Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's arrival in Cebu in 1565. The film centers on forced labor used to build colonial-era churches, which Diaz argued are "steeped in violence" despite their current standing as cultural and religious landmarks. Under Spanish rule, able-bodied Malay men were required to perform 40 days of unpaid annual labor on infrastructure and religious structures, Diaz noted.
Diaz said the forced-labor system resulted in the deaths of around 30 percent of the male population based on historical accounts. "Forgetful Filipinos must learn, must know, must understand, that these structures were built by forced labor, and that they didn't appear in their midst by some cosmic manifestations — it's blood, sweat, tears, and deaths of our ancestors," he said.
The 151-minute film was shot in black and white in Sampaloc, Quezon Province, and stars filmmaker Isabel Sandoval, alongside longtime collaborators Ronnie Lazaro and Yul Servo. Diaz said Sandoval, who plays a traditional Malay healer called a Babaylan, "contributed majestic nuance in the whole vision" of the character. "Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors" is produced by C'est Lovi Prods., Epicmedia Prods. and Sine Olivia Pilipinas, with Heretic handling world sales.
