Adarna & The Memory of Crystal

Synopsis

Legend has it that an elusive, magical bird called the Adarna can heal any sickness through song, but it can also turn men into stone with its droppings. This does not stop three princes – Don Pedro, Don Diego & Don Juan – from looking for the bird in the hope of helping their ailing father. But who catches the bird? Who turns to stone? In this seven-minute found-footage opus, Vicente Salumbides’ 1941 take on this beloved classic is condensed and retold silently, in glorious black and white.

Director Biography

Be aware: while you’re sitting in the cinema and watching the KHAVN Programme, his next film will be edited, a new poem will be written, a new song composed and another piano played. Diving into his poetry (“Ultraviolins”), his work as a musician and composer is all just logical and straight-lined: Telling and showing his stories on a certain level, where he does not need pictures anymore. In his complete work, Khavn is still fully aware of the history of his country and introduces us to his world, giving us a wild mixture, for years now, of horror, poetry, Philippine history, love, punk, emptiness and voluminous nostalgia. Khavn’s very own argument seems assignable to the generation of the now 37 years old director: “Film is dead, please omit flowers”. And even if there is still film it is all about rhythm, so “Let there be music”.