The Forest is a Spirit That Beckons Me

Based on the myth of the taotaomo’na, shot on 16mm film, and presented entirely in CHamoru, The Forest is a Spirit That Beckons Me follows a young CHamoru woman who finds that her family’s generational curse has finally emerged on her stomach. After asking her mother for help, she is sent on a journey into the forest to find the man who started the curse, who may be able to stop the curse from further spreading across her body.

In the forest, the woman encounters a strange spirit who offers her water. After drinking it, she follows the spirit through the dense brush, and finds that the spirit is actually a guide. When she is too tired to move further, the spirit offers her refuge. Eventually, the spirit sends her on her way. The woman finds the answers she came for.

Back at her mother’s house, she cries in her mother’s arms.

Credits
Writer: Jacob Cruz-Rine
Producer: yétúndé ọlágbajú
Director of Photography: Ej Yeh
Editor: Jacob Cruz-Rine
Sound Designer: Aidan Reynolds
On Set Sound Recordist: Rich Lomibao
Costume Design: Rb *Poodle* Moran

Plays in

PHOTOGÉNIE

There are certain things in life only the medium of cinema can achieve. Something felt in the grain of an image, in the specific way the light falls, a subtle gesture that explores the meaning of life. These five films live in that space.