Award-winning short film mirrors life of Pangasinan Muslim girl

ALAMINOS CITY, Pangasinan – The short film titled “Decalcomania” produced by students under Layag Productions of Alaminos City National High School, which won in the 2020 International Teen Short Film Festival (ITSF) in Beijing, China, portrays the life of a Muslim girl in Pangasinan.

Decalcomania, a French word that means the art or process of transferring pictures and designs from specially prepared paper (as to glass), was written and directed by Hannah Ragudos, a Muslim senior high school student, who has been living in the province of Pangasinan.

Ragudos parents, Mansour and Nur Jinnah, have been living in the province even before her birth.

“I didn’t have a problem during my elementary days but I experienced being bullied when I started wearing hijab as part of my religion. There is a norm that Muslims should only be in Mindanao,” she said in an interview on Friday.

She said she coped with bullying by praying and excelling in school.

“I don’t have any background in filmmaking. I am skilled in computer-related stuff and our mentor discovered what I can do and asked me to join a film camp. So I attended the North Luzon Film Camp for a week two years ago. Our mentors made us write a story during its first day, and they will be selecting ten down to five and pitch it to make it a movie or film. They liked my story about a Muslim girl victimized by Islamophobia as one of the Top 10 and Top 5. I cried in front of them, presenting my pitch because I admitted that it’s my personal story,” she added.

Ragudos said her mentors, Jerome Dulin and Joseph Arcegono of North Luzon Cinema Guild Inc., together with Layag Productions founder, Dr. Raquel Rarang-Rivera, taught her filmmaking processes and techniques.

“They taught me how to write a screenplay and create relevant regional films that could influence and alter people’s minds about the unknown’s truthfulness. I never knew entering the film industry would impact me big time,” she added.

Before Decalcomania, she wrote and directed a short film Ana Bikhayr’.

“Ana Bikhayr’, which is all about when I used to be a nobody. The experimental film Decalcomania (Parallel Universe), on the other hand, is all about when I am finally known. With the idea of the decalcomania art technique of transferring prints to another, I realized that I’m just like that art. I wanted to become an exact copy of myself, where everyone is looking at me with admiration and value because I am good at everything. That thought of me is overpowering who I am and overshadowed the real me. But what could I do? I have many things I wanted to do, but I can’t. I am flawed, and I have these scars been carrying throughout my life,” she said.

Decalcomania was a product of her second film camp in 2019 and it was acted out by her sister Leila.

Ragudos said aside from being her coping mechanism and hobby, she believes filmmaking also has a bigger purpose.

“As an artist, I have to find artistic and cultural value in my stories that could show my regional identity thru culture, rites, beliefs, and principles. I am optimistic about a future where the world has no vacancy for hate and war, for it will be filled with harmony and peace. I visualize the power of my film as an incandescent towards social change,” she said.

She also believes that filmmaking is an extension of communication and artistic expression.

“We believe that filmmaking should be a path in discovering and rediscovering the region’s culture. We believe that cinema can liberate the minds of the people and the people itself,” she added.

Decalcomania, which runs six minutes and 15 seconds, and other films produced by Layag Productions, will soon be available for viewing in this city once restrictions are eased amid the coronavirus pandemic.