Forgotten no more: Filipino folklore finds footing on global stage

Stories of the manananggal, a creature said to split its body in two, and the tiyanak, which takes the form of an infant, are part of the folklore many children grow up hearing in the Philippines.

Now, they are among the mythological creatures featured in DreamWorks’ animated Forgotten Island, which opened in the Philippines on Wednesday and is due to be released in the United States on Friday.

The film, described as the first major Hollywood production to showcase Filipino culture and mythology, offers a rare point of recognition for the diaspora while reflecting the US industry’s growing interest in Asian audiences.

“We first saw the trailers in the cinema, and I wasn’t expecting to see a movie with Filipino stories that I grew up with back in the 1990s,” Berlynn Tuazon-Bradshaw, 34, told This Week in Asia.