Festival Note
Thunder rumbling as heavy rain pours. Objects clashing and a breath drowning. OYO, 23, returns to visit his grandparents in Cagayan before he migrates to Canada. He seeks a carabao, a lasting memento of his younger brother who passed away during a flood.
Accompanied by his childhood friend, RJ, a tricycle driver, they go around town visiting old teachers, saying goodbyes, and searching for the elusive animal. A coming of age, NGATTA NADDAKI Y NUANG? (Why Did the Carabao Cross the Carayan?), is a film about the uncertainties of life in the face of migration, industrialization, poverty, and the effects of a natural calamity.
Austin Tan is a film director and scriptwriter hailing from Tuguegarao, Philippines. He makes short and experimental films that tackles political and social topics through concepts that deal on memory and death, and stories of the underprivileged and the voiceless.
His short film, HAPPY 2023RD BIRTHDAY MYLENE! screened locally and internationally, including winning best picture and screenplay in Black Beret and selection to CineFilipino in 2018. Now, Austin is working with KT House Productions for his first feature film titled, LOST MEMORIES IN TRANSIT, which received project development support from Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Locarno Open Doors, SGIFF Southeast Film Lab, Full Circle Philippines, EAVE Ties That Bind and FDCP’s CreatePH.