Itim: An Exploration in Cinema

Doy del Muno’s documentary about the making of Mike De Leon’s Itim also features the only scenes to survive from De Leon’s now-lost debut film, the 16mm short Monologo (Monologue) (1975). De Leon recalls, “Itim was filmed in my grandmother’s hometown of San Miguel, in her family’s ancestral house where more than two decades later I would also shoot Bayaning 3rd World. Doy and his brother-in-law Gil Quito wrote the screenplay. It was Gil who suggested the use of spiritualism and spirit possession during the holy week.”