Source : the age
Liza Soberano grew up thinking there were small goblin-like creatures in the drain of her kitchen sink. They were the “duwende”, the actor’s parents would tell her, mischievous creatures from Filipino mythology that must be treated with respect lest they afflict with you an incurable rash or fever.
“Whenever I’d pour hot water down the sink, I would always say ‘tabi-tabi po’, which means ‘excuse me’. I still do that to this day,” says the Filipino-American star, who starred in 2024’s Lisa Frankenstein.
If you come from the Philippines, chances are you were told similar stories while growing up. From the “duwende” and shapeshifting “aswang” to the terrifying vampiric “manananggal”, folklore and mythology have long taken centre-stage in many Filipino households.
They have also taken centre-stage in DreamWorks’ latest animated film, Forgotten Island.
Pegged as the first major animated Hollywood production to centre on Filipino culture, the film follows best friends Jo and Raissa (voiced by Soberano) as they become trapped on Nakali, a mystical island that feeds on their memories and tests their friendship. While trying to find their way back home, the pair encounter a string of creatures, from nature spirits known as “diwata” to the tree-dwelling giant “kapres”. But with fading memories and the “manananggal” – a bloodthirsty creature with a detachable torso – hunting them, their chances of making it back to the real world appear more fantastical than the island itself.
For Soberano, taking part in a film like this was a no-brainer. Not only was it driven by the very culture she grew up in, it also retold stories she had heard time and again in classrooms, friends’ houses and while tucked under her blanket at bedtime. The same could be said of her co-star Gabriella Wilson, a five-time Grammy Award-winning musician known globally as H.E.R., who voices Jo.
“My mom specifically would scare me with the manananggal,” Wilson says. “We went to the Philippines a few times, and when we’d see bats in the sky, she’d say, ‘it’s the manananggal’, and I’d be like, ‘oh my god!’.”
The film goes far beyond the folklore, though. From beginning to end, Forgotten Island is filled with specific Filipino cultural references. There are the jeepneys – World War II military vehicles repurposed for personal use in the Philippines – and a lechón baboy, a whole roast pig. The characters frequently speak Tagalog, one of the main languages used in the Philippines, and purse their lips to point someone in a certain direction – a gesture Wilson says is common throughout the country.
But of all the references, it’s petroleum jelly and Jesus that stand out to Wilson and Soberano the most.
“When I saw the petroleum jelly, I thought, ‘oh my gosh, that is literally our childhood’. It was so funny, so specific and niche, but just perfect,” Wilson says, explaining that most Filipino households have a massive tub that they use for everything from cuts to burns.
“One of my favourites is Jesus Christ just watching you with the disapproving face,” Soberano added, referencing a scene in which Jo accidentally starts a fire at a farewell party, charring everything but a painting of the judgemental-looking prophet.
Seeing these niche references on-screen feels beyond joyous, Wilson says. It also feels overdue.
Though Filipino culture has become increasingly visible on the global stage – Wilson points to popular Filipino foods such as ube, taro and Jollibee fast food, as well as Filipino music like Pinoy hip-hop – it has yet to make a significant mark on the global silver screen. Certain Filipino (or half-Filipino) actors have broken into Hollywood, including Manny Jacinto (Top Gun: Maverick), Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: Brand New Day), Nico Santos (Crazy Rich Asians) and Kristin Villanueva (The Pitt), but they all feature in largely Anglo-Westernised worlds. Forgotten Island places a largely Filipino cast in an undeniably Filipino world.
“Filipinos will feel seen and recognised. They’ll see us being celebrated and being proud,” Wilson says. “It’s hard to explain who we are, but now people get to experience it – we get to show it … I think Forgotten Island will set the standard for everybody – all cultures – to feel like they should have a voice and a place to tell their story.”
For a film like this to feel authentic, Wilson says it must come from those who lived it. Forgotten Island was co-directed by Filipino-American Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford, whose wife is Filipina. The pair also worked together on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. While filming, Soberano says the directing duo often asked her for advice around the use of Tagalog words, or whether specific references worked in certain contexts. It was a collaborative process that placed value on the lived experience of those on-set, including Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy and the legendary Disney voice actress Lea Salonga (Mulan, Aladdin).
This extended beyond the camera. The film’s soundtrack consists of numbers by Soberano and Wilson, as well as other Filipino artists such as BINI, SB19 and Katseye’s Sophia Laforteza. Even some of the animation is by Snipple, a studio based in Manila. The studio brought a distinct Filipino flare to the film’s visual style, weaving vibrant, exaggerated anime into scenes to signal a memory or flashback.
“This is where Hollywood misses the mark a lot of the time,” Wilson says. “You can’t speak on behalf of a culture, you have to live it, understand it. You have to uplift those voices if you really are trying to give that culture a story and platform … Everyone in this film pushed the boundaries because they care. There’s a different amount of authenticity when you pull from the source.”
Soberano hopes that Forgotten Island will showcase the breadth of what Filipino cinema has to offer. Though much of the local film industry is driven by romance productions, she says it’s uniquely positioned to tell stories about family.
“Whether it’s your family or chosen family, Filipinos have such a strong sense of what that means to us, and have a very good way of expressing it in the form of art,” she says. “I’m excited for more Filipino films to hopefully reach a global audience because I miss the days when there were a lot of family friendly films in the Western side of the world.”
In Forgotten Island, Raissa is Jo’s chosen family. With her parents in the US, she only has her grandma, or “lola”, around her. When she meets Raissa at her new school, they become thick as thieves, bound by friendship bracelets with tokens for each of their most treasured memories together. But when Raissa decides to go to the US for university, Jo suddenly feels unmoored – what will she do without her best friend, her chosen family?
Before even landing in cinemas, Forgotten Island was being compared to another recent animated film that explores universal themes within a culturally specific world: KPop Demon Hunters. Released last year, the film follows a K-pop girl group as they attempt to protect the world from demons. Its story is deeply steeped in Korean culture, showcasing its foods, customs and, most notably, its music. It quickly became the most-watched Netflix film ever, and its lead track, Golden, broke into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Could Forgotten Island reach similar heights? “There’s a Filipino word called ‘kilig’, which means butterflies in your stomach. I get that when [Forgotten Island] is compared to KPop Demon Hunters,” Soberano says. “But I do think our movie is a completely different thing. It’s rooted in a different culture and celebrates friendship, whereas I feel like KPop Demon Hunters is more about identity … But it’s nice to be compared to projects that have done so well and were so important for the culture.”
Forgotten Island opens on September 17.
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