Laragene Servando

One night, Sanya follows a mysterious sound that leads her to face a black pig in the middle of the forest. This marks her fate of inheriting shamanism from her father. However, she refuses to accept this power---and the harder she runs away from her destiny, the forces draw her closer to the inevitable.

It is like any other day in Artiaga Street when men eat dogs and get drunk and women have to succumb to their husbands’ aggressiveness. Mariana, pregnant with her second child has been planning for this day. She is fed-up. She wants to break loose. On the ground floor, her husband’s dog barks incessantly. Upstairs the baby cries constantly waiting to be fed. She has to fight. A woman, too, has rights. Confronting her drunken husband and the dog, she makes one last bid for freedom that might finally set her free.

In anticipation of the demolition of their barangay for a major government project, the residents united to fight for their homes, their traditions, and their ancestral memories.

A coming-of-age story of two children whose lives and friendship are shaped by the festival and their devotion to the patroness of Jaro district in Iloilo City.