Film screenings as part of public programs for new Fowler exhibition Mountain Spirit

Thursday, May 14, 2026
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Lenart Auditorium
Fowler Museum at UCLA

This film screening presents The Old Kiyyangan Story: Oral Histories and Archaeological Findings from the Old Kiyyangan Village, Ifugao, Philippines, an animated film directed by Armando Burgos, with script by Stephen Acabado (UCLA) and Marlon Martin (Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement). The film is the result of a close collaboration between archaeologists and Ifugao descendant communities, blending oral history and archaeological research to highlight a crucial chapter of Philippine Indigenous history often absent from national narratives.

Through vivid storytelling, The Old Kiyyangan Story reveals how the shift to wet-rice cultivation in the 1600s enabled the Ifugao to consolidate social and political power—resisting Spanish colonization and preserving their mountain settlements.

Following the screening, Stephen Acabado and Joshua David will discuss the film’s impact on understanding Indigenous resistance, heritage conservation, and the ongoing work of the Ifugao Archaeological Project.

Stephen Acabado is Professor of Anthropology at UCLA and Director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

Joshua David is an MFA student at the UCLA School of Film, Theater, and Television.

Partners: Ifugao Archaeological Project; Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMo); FilAm Arts Los Angeles; National Geographic Society; Whiting Foundation.

Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Fowler Museum at UCLA