Live to Tell Nadjoua and Linda just wanted to shoot the sun rising in the East. To shoot the sunrise, one puts a camera on a tripod and waits in the dark for light to suffuse the skies. A sunrise denotes passage of time in a film—the start of another day, a new sequence that moves forward the narrative. Documentary filmmakers Nadjoua Bansil, 39, and her sister, Linda, 36, were on their way to shoot the first rays of light when a group of armed men stopped their vehicle and took them in Sulu, Mindanao. More than a month has passed since then. To date, the sisters are still in captivity. Since their abduction on June 22, 2013, news about the sisters trickled far and few, punctuated by isolated efforts from concerned friends. The silence is in part due to the family’s request to let them handle the negotiations with the abductors. Misleading information about the sisters from early news reports proved detrimental to the dialogues. In a video posted online, Mohammed and Zackaria, the brothers of Nadjoua and Linda reiterated that their sisters grew up in the Philippines. They are Filipinos. They lead a modest life, earning just enough from random if not rare freelance jobs as independent filmmakers that usually, in the Philippines, do not pay well. The Story-Tellers Nadjoua is a member of the Peace and Conflict Journalism Network (Pecojon). The sisters are both Mass Communication graduates of Ateneo de Zamboanga University and has since then worked on several videos that tackle human rights and extractive industries issues in Muslim Mindanao. They lived with their brothers. Diego, one of the brothers’ friends, was one of the many who helped the sisters create their independently-produced documentary film “Bohe: Sons of Waves,” a documentary film about Badjaos, a group of sea nomads who found home in the lands of Luzon. He recalls how the sisters usually worked on set. Nadjoua shot "guerilla-style, with a penchant for the "dramatic" in editing the footages they have shot. Meanwhile, Linda wants her stories “straight to the point.” He says the sisters’ different styles usually led to a tiff in creative control during post-production. But both shared the same priority during shooting. “Ito ay ang ‘silent film’ na halos ‘natural sound’ at dayalogo lang ang maririnig mo. Ayaw nila ng masyadong ‘musical scoring’, gusto nilang palitawin ang ‘ambient sound’ at ‘foley’ ng ‘environment.’" The documentary film they were shooting when they were abducted in Sulu aimed to capture the struggles of coffee farmers living in a war-torn area. Informed by progressive ideals and a hard-edge taste for direct cinema that entails an immersion in the chosen location, Nadjoua and Linda found contacts in Sulu and went straight into the lion’s den to do preliminary interviews and location check. In ANC’s Manny Velazquez’ interview with the Sulu governor Abdusakur Tan, he criticized the sisters for daring to go in an area known as an Abu Sayyaf bailiwick without informing authorities beforehand. The Challenge Without a formal introduction letter to verify the nature of their project nor security from local authorities, Nadjoua and Linda relied on the kindness of their contact. They were betrayed, sold out to fuel the so-called kidnapping-for-ransom cottage industry of the area. Because of the lack of information given to the local authorities, Governor Tan even hinted in his ANC interview that the sister’s might have been in Sulu to shoot the Abu Sayyaf, as their contact is a member of the group. In Maria Ressa’s report in Rappler, she confirms that a respected Abu Sayyaf leader did receive the sisters and guarantee their safety in Sinumaan, where the sisters stayed for a night. According to Diego, Nadjoua and Linda’s main objective was only to collate information so they can start planning and writing for the shoot proper. But since they were already in the place, they fitted in a shoot of sunrise in the itinerary. Upon leaving the safety of Sinumaan, “their vehicle was stopped by eight armed men believed to be led by Ninok Sappari and his breakaway group.” One could easily lambast the sisters for being careless and naive, venturing to go to a place weighed down by a history of kidnappings and killings. But the assumed kindness of strangers that led to Nadjoua’s and Linda’s abduction is something that the sisters, as independent filmmakers and human rights advocates, always bank on. Their premise of trust is rooted on their practice. They are making films for the benefit of a place ravaged by decades of relentless war. Nadjoua and Linda grew up in Mindanao. They are sisters of its people, with whom they share the same faith and dreams. A cursory look at the history of Mindanao—from the 1976 Tripoli Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) 1996 Final Peace Agreement to the 2012 Bangsamoro Framework Agreement—easily shows why this tendency to trust. There is no other choice. A glimmer of the faintest hope shines the brightest where it is darkest. This is what Nadjoua and Linda wanted to capture—life in the margins, struggling with poverty and hunger for almost half a decade and repeatedly failed by the Philippine government to deliver its promise of a better system of governance. The trust of the people has been betrayed again and again. But they continue to hope. The Bansil sisters, guided by this hope, wanted to retell these stories from the eyes of individuals who have lived through this struggle. Theirs is much-needed local perspective that could finally make visible the web of pain weaved in and out of the everyday. But their abductors have other means of making this pain visible. Unfortunately, the absence of the abducted shapes the presence of these kidnap-for-ransom groups, otherwise ignored and not within the sphere usually given attention by the government. With the wealth-sharing deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for the Bangsamoro entity sealed, we are calling on President Benigno Aquino III, Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan, Sultan Bantilan Muizzudin II, Sultan Kiram III, Ustadj Abdul Bakki Abubakar and all the forces of MILF and MNLF to fulfill your commitment to protect each and everyone who calls the Bangsamoro Entity his/her home. The road towards healing Mindanao is an attempt to rewrite the narrative of a battle-scarred land. We challenge you to make good on your word by letting Nadjoua and Linda live to help you retell the story of Mindanao. We are also calling on our Muslim brothers who took the Bansil sisters. They have come for your best interests. We assure you that you will benefit more by letting Nadjoua and Linda live to help you retell your story. Let the story-tellers live. Free the Bansil Sisters!
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:16:14 +0000
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