IN THE NAVEL OF THE SEA

A remote Filipino fishing village in the 1950s is where Pepito grows up, raised alone by his mother after the accidental death of his father on the water. Naturally, Pepito now learns the trade by which his one remaining parent ekes out her living – as village midwife, helping to birth all the babies in the locality. Only in adolescence does the boy find out that he's been dutifully apprenticed in work exclusively reserved for women, a jarring realization in the island's macho culture. With this knowledge comes Pepito's innocent but intense first romantic crush on his (married, of course) schoolteacher – followed by a pregnancy trauma from a most unexpected quarter. Framed by the under-aged hero's unspoiled point-of-view, of a world of mermaids, omens, fertility, and superstition, IN THE NAVEL OF THE SEA is a marvel-filled coming-of-age drama from the far side of the planet. For the CIFF it is, in every way, a special delivery. (In Filipino with English subtitles)