This Is Our Land

Years of destruction to the rich, ancestral land, culture, and relationships in Nueva Vizcaya by a large-scale foreign mining company has divided the people, but has also summoned the collective strength of the mountains and the community to rise up. The Didipio community of Twali-Ifugao indigenous people put their stakes in setting up a barricade and risk to continue the fight for their life, honor, and land.

Director: Nonilon Sidney Abao
Length: 15:55
Country: Philippines
Language: English
Year: 2019

Additional Info

Director Biography: Noni Abao is a producer and production manager for films and documentaries. He worked as a human rights worker in the Cagayan Valley Region where he made short documentaries on the current conditions in the area. In 2019, he produced Cleaners and Judy Free, both awarded Best Film in Cinema International Film Festival 2019. Dagami Daytoy is his first documentary film.

Director Statement: In a span of 5 years of filming, the documentary captures the extreme conditions that pit people against one another, creating a greater social divide, exploiting resources, and killing off indigenous culture to foreign power. In these situations, the film observes and also gives space for the voices of the community to show how they engage extralegal tactics throughout their long struggle on ancestral domains.

Producer: Alyssa Suico