Lumad: Struggle for Land and Justice

In the rich mountains of Mindanao, the southern part of the Philippines, there dwells several tribes of indigenous people collectively known as ‘Lumad’. For hundreds of years, the Lumad has protected their lands and culture against foreign colonial domination. They are the people untarnished by Islam, Spanish, Japanese and American—all colonizers of the Philippines—influences.

Mindanao is rich in natural resources including minerals like gold, nickel, coal, and copper. The island is host majority of local and foreign large-scale mining companies in the country. The mining activities in the island cause massive environmental destruction and displacement of peasant settlers and indigenous peoples in the mountains.

With the government’s continuous neglect of the indigenous people’s rights, the Lumad has learned to organize themselves to protect their ancestral lands and culture against land grabbing of big landlords and mining conglomerates. They have set up their own schools, strengthened the preservation of their culture and learned to uplift their economic lives without the help of the government.

The films included in this curatorial were made amid rampant killings and forced evacuation of the Lumad and their heightened struggle to defend their ancestral land and basic rights. The films were made with the full participation of the Lumad for both narrative and documentary films and shot in their communities and wherever their struggle brought them.

These films are widely watched in Lumad communities in Mindanao and have been brought to several screenings nationwide. It has brought enlightenment to people unaware of the situation of the indigenous people and inspiration to continue their struggle for the Lumad people themselves.