Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan
Locarno Residency 2022 | Philippines
Locarno Residency 2022 | Philippines
Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (1996, Philippines) is an independent film writer/director born of Ifugao and Visayan descent. Eblahan’s works explore themes of trauma, spirituality, and nature told through the cosmic lens of post-colonial spaces and Indigenous identities. Known for Umbilical Cord to Heaven, Hilum, and The Headhunter's Daughter, his works have been selected in various film festivals around the world, such as Sundance Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, where he won the International Student Jury Prize as well as the Special Mention of the International Jury for his 2020 short film Hilum. In 2022, his film The Headhunter’s Daughter was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
2019 Umbilical Cord to Heaven
2020 Remedy
2021 The Headhunter's Daughter
Production: Create Cinema Inc.
Haunted by the three-year absence of her missing husband, Esther (30), a single mother who works as a tour guide for mountaineers in her local village, embarks on her own treacherous journey of searching for him in the jungle where he had retreated to live with the beasts.
As an Indigenous Igorot, my works often reflect on the dystopic ruins of the past's colonial impact and what it means to the modern Indigenous Filipinos. Funneling those musings through an autofictional lens, I aim to make work that unravels intergenerational trauma, both personal and historical.
