The Headhunter's Daughter

By Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan

Philippines | In Ilokano with English subtitles | 2022 | 15 min | PG

Singapore Premiere

The Philippines was occupied by the United States after the Spanish colonial period ended in the late 1800s. During that period, the Cordilleras became a region for country music, honky-tonk bars, and horse-riders. Director Eblahan was born into this culture, as were many generations of Indigenous Igorot children. The colonial presence is now gone, but its legacy still manifests in everyday life.

In this cinematic ode to her ancestry, Eblahan tells the story of a young Igorot woman who leaves her family behind. She traverses the harrowing roads of the Cordilleran highlands to the city in a bid to make it as a country singer in a talent competition.

The Headhunter’s Daughter won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival (2022).

Supreme Court Wing, Level 5, UOB Southeast Asia Gallery, Theatrette

• Daily | 4.00pm

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Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (b. 1996, Philippines) is an independent filmmaker of Ifugao and Visayan descent. Eblahan’s works explore the themes of trauma, spirituality, and nature told through the cosmic lens of post-colonial spaces and Indigenous identities. In 2021, Eblahan’s film Hilum won the Student Prize and received Special Mention from the International Jury at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.