The Boy and The Fight of Spiders

A spider-obsessed boy is forced to face manhood after a tragedy strikes his remote mining town.

Team

Jarell Serencio

PhilippinesFilm Director

Jeddalyn Medrano

PhilippinesProduction

synopsis

In Southern Philippines, a carefree spider obsessed boy, Jun (12) lives with his family of gold miners in Diwalwal. Jun’s world revolves around spider fights with friends and his brother Mark (15) who teaches him to spider hunt until a new girl in town, Debby, (16), captures his attention. Debby is bound to work as a bar girl. On a dare from friends, Jun pursues Debby and becomes close with her. A mining tragedy strikes, burying Mark and his father. Their bodies are not recovered leaving him and his mother Bebeng (40) grief- stricken. An emergency case taps Bebeng’s skill as a midwife which sparks zest in her. Without her knowing, Jun starts working inside the mines where the collapse happened until a riot ensues which nearly kills Jun. They begin to deal with their loss, but Jun is obsessed to find the bodies of his loved ones. Standing at the tunnel’s mouth, he hears the mountain roar which leaves him nowhere to go but to follow familiar voices inside the dark cave. Does he go in again?

Director’statement

Knowing Jun is like reconnecting with my childhood memories about my older brother Josel (12) who died from a stray bullet. I remember him vaguely from times we spent playing. I couldn’t understand how one day he was not around anymore. Like Jun, I also confronted loss at a young age. Some of my questions remain unanswered until now. I struggled for answers. That struggle led me to make a film and explore feelings about our lack of choices and how this affects our relationships with ourselves and those closest to us. I feel the immense urgency to examine how a mining town cuts childhood and how this reality becomes normal in a world where everything revolves around the web of social structure built by the invisible big-time players who hold full control over the place. I want to provoke empathy in showing the continuing losses we experience as a country within the context of mining from the lens of a tragic instance caught on film.

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