Shifting Roles: Shaira Advincula’s Tembong

Tnalak is a sacred fabric for the Tbolis and women play an important role in weaving it. Traditionally, women do the weaving while men prepare the abaca fiber or do the shining of the tnalak cloth. In contemporary Tboli society, too much commercialization of the Tnalak erodes its true essence and men forced to do weaving because of its economic demand. Shaira Advincula’s Tembong (Connecting) subtly tackles this issue and shows how this scared cloth shifts the traditional role of the Tboli men and women. 

The short film is about a grieving son named Egif (Sedeli “Charlie” Dulay) who wants to continue the unfinished Tnalak cloth, which her mother weaves before she died. Egif mourns the death of her mother and does not want to socialize with other Tboli men in their community. 

The opening scene would immerse you in the dream of Egif. The upturned dream scene is surreal as though you have the same dream with Egif, imagining the face of Fu Dalu (Jeanilyn Dula), the abaca spirit, and would wait for the design to be revealed. The Tnalak designs are manifested through the dreams of Tboli women. But in this film, Egif dreams for the design, which is shown in chayote by Fu Dalu. Egif does not care if he would be cursed because of this violation in their tradition. All he cares is that he would finish what her mother fails to do so. It is somehow Egif’s coping mechanism for the death of his mother. 

Egif is a social outcast of his community because the people think of him as a misguided son. In his community, some Tboli women gossip about Egif’s weaving the Tnalak. But in today’s economic situation, this is not the case anymore. Even in the broad daylight, we can see some Tboli men do weaving just to cater to the demand. The Tnalak cloth is now reduced to simple cloth produce almost all of the family members just to satisfy the culturally insensitive appetite of the clients. This is also happening to other ethnolinguistic groups like the Blaans and their tabih cloth. 

The film also shows the encroachment of lowlanders, like in the dream scene of Egif where Fu Dalu and a man meet; and the brief encounter with the rebels, like in the scene where Egif washes the Tnalak cloth in the river. The two men are clearly talking about illegal logging and the coal-rich barangay called Ned, where there are cases of militarization and NPA encounters. The lowlanders or migrant settlers are not only intruders in Tboli’s ancestral domain. They also contributed to the corruption of Tboli’s culture. 

Most of the casts of Tembong come from the Dulay Family. The short film is somehow a tribute to the late Lang Dulay. She received the National Living Treasure (Manlilikha ng Bayan) award from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in 1998, for her contribution in the preservation of their culture, and for her fine craftsmanship of the delicate abaca fibers. Dulay knew many traditional motifs and designs, including the ‘bulinglangit’ (clouds), the ‘bankiring’ (hair bangs), and the ‘kabangi’ (butterfly). She weaved and promoted such designs against the modern and commercialized designs by non-Tbolis. She died in 2015 but her legacy remains and continues to challenge by commercialization. 

Tembong is a thesis film of Advincula. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Film at the University of the Philippines Film Institute. Tembong has received numerous recognitions including the Golden Durian Prize for Best Mindanao Short in Salamindanaw Asian Film Festival 2018 held at General Santos City, and the Special Jury Prize at Cinemalaya Film Festival 2019. 

Advincula is from Koronadal City, South Cotabato, and just like other Mindanao Filmmakers, she also aspires to bring forward diverse Mindanawon narratives through visual storytelling. But just like other Mindanao filmmakers or artists in general, it takes a genuine community immersion to really tell a good, memorable and culturally appropriate story.