ELY BUENDIA LEADS ALL-BICOLANO CAST IN CINEMALAYA ENTRY 'PADAMLAGAN'

ELY BUENDIA, SUE PRADO AND ESTEBAN MARA LEAD THE CAST of the Cinemalaya 2025 entry "Padamlagan," a co-production of Giya Studios and 901 Studios that revisits the 1972 Colgante Bridge tragedy in Naga.

- NATHALIE TOMADA

"Padamlagan" (which means "night light" or "overnight vigil" in Bicolano) marks the directorial debut of Jenn Romano. Set just days before the declaration of Martial Law on Sept. 21, 1972, the film follows the desperate search of Doring (Ely) for his son Ivan (Esteban), who goes missing after the collapse of the Colgante Bridge during the fluvial procession of the Peñafrancia festival.

Jenn told The STAR in an interview at 901 Studios, "I was doing archival research for my thesis at UP when I encountered the 1972 issue in local newspapers in Naga. The last headline was in September 1972 — the Colgante Bridge tragedy and the declaration of Martial Law. After that, media blackout na. As someone who didn’t experience that period, it really sparked my curiosity in what really happened there, and from there, the exploration of the film started."

She added, “The biggest objective of this film is to commemorate the tragedy, as well as show the regional counterpart of Martial Law. Because even today, when it comes to our history, it’s always conflated with the bigger, national Manila-centric history.”

Since "Padamlagan" is a period film, recreating the era was one of the production’s most challenging parts. According to the director, they were able to find some archival materials that became their basis for the period details — from how Naga looked in 1972 to what the people wore and how the bridge appeared before it collapsed.

The bridge scene, in particular, was the most difficult to pull off. "The (budget) limitations pushed us to think of different forms — paano kaya ang lenggwahe namin for this, para to push through with the tragedy? (What we did here was) somewhat experimental in a way. It’s a new, distinct form of film,” Jenn teased.