Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr. chooses not to forget 'Ang Daigdig ng mga Api'
We have read the newly launched book, "Ang Daigdig ng mga Api: Remembering a Lost Film" by Clodualdo “Doy” del Mundo, Jr., which he pursued against all odds with the help of Dik Trofeo, assistant director and script supervisor of National Artist Gerardo de Leon.
It was a personal advocacy for Doy to call for a competent national film archive. "Ang Daigdig ng mga Api" is lost forever. No film print was saved. It competed during the first Manila Film Festival, where it got the Raha Soliman Award and was the first film to win all the major awards in the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards in 1966 Best Picture, Best Director (de Leon), Best Actor (Rober Arevalo), and Best Actress (Barbara Perez).
“We should have a national film archive,” says the "Maynila...Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag" screenwriter. “We have over a hundred years of Pinoy cinema. Unfortunately, the country does not give importance to history.”
"Ang Daigdig ng mga Api" (World of the Oppressed) follows a student studying in Manila, Israel (Jet del Mundo), who comes home to his province to witness the oppressions experienced by land tenants, especially the family of Inong (Arevalo), and the exploitations committed by landowners and cohorts. After seeing these injustices and the despair, Israel vows to defend the peasants when he becomes a lawyer.
Doy’s father, Clodualdo Sr., is a popular komiks writer whose works have been adapted into radio drama serials and by the big movie studios, LVN, Sampaguita, and Premiere Productions. Daigdig was written by Pierre Salas who usually consulted the elder Clodualdo when writing for film. His father entrusted Doy a copy of the treatment, brother Jet was in the cast as Israel and Trofeo had behind-the-scenes photos and a collection from still photographer Dick Baldovino.
‘We have over a hundred years of Pinoy cinema. Unfortunately, the country does not give importance to history.’
“Films can show us much of our past and our culture,” muses the 74-year-old DLSU professor emeritus. “Films can tell us a lot about ourselves, our people.”
At the height of the pandemic, Doy and Trofeo collaborated to create the book supported by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and De La Salle Publishing House.
Doy admires Manong Gerry de Leon. “He was a major filmmaker together with Lamberto Avellana, Manuel Conde, and Manuel Silos,” says the 2020 Gawad CCP para sa Sining awardee. “His films are visually exciting,” he added. “It would be instructive for the new generation to appreciate his works and realize that the country had a filmmaker like him.”
Interviews were done at the height of the lockdown via email and video calls to Robert Arevalo, Barbara Perez, Ruben Ilagan, Leni Alano, and Jet del Mundo to recall the 1965 production.
During the book launch, Doy delivered a heartfelt speech. "Sa pag-aala ng nakaraan, laging may kalungkutan, lalo na kung tungkol sa isang bagay na wala na. Nasa ala-ala na lamang. Wala na ang pelikula ('Ang Daigdig ng mga Api'), masaya pa ring alalahanin na noong 1965 ay may ginawang pelikula na maipagmamalaki natin, na pumukaw sa mga manonood, at tumalakay sa kalagayan ng ating mga magsasaka... Wala na ang pelikula, ang mayroon na lang tayo ay ang libro. (In looking at the past, there is sadness, especially over what’s lost. It stays in our memory. The film is lost but we should be happy to recall that in 1965, there was a film produced that we should all be proud of, that touched the audience and showed the plight of our farmers. The film is gone but we have a book).
Doy is cooking up two more book projects. “I have finished writing a book about Avellana and his extant LVN films,” he shares. “The other project is a book of essays on film and television, a compilation of my past essays.”
The 138-page "Ang Daigdig ng mga Api: Remembering a Lost Film" is available in at Solidaridad Book Shop. To order, email [email protected] . The price of a hardbound is P1,000. Softbound copies each cost P800.