Costumes, music, and dance beats: Winnipeg's Ati clan celebratetheir culture with annual festival - Action News
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ManitobaVideo

Costumes, music, and dance beats: Winnipeg's Ati clan celebratetheir culture with annual festival

Watch as Winnipeg's Ati community comes together every year for a joyous party to honour their ancestors in the Philippines. About 300 people celebrate the annual Ati-Atihan festival through, music and dance while wearing costumes of their forebears.

Sisler Create students' film tells story of Ati-Atihan festival through city's 300-plus Filipino clan members

How Winnipeg's Ati people celebrate their ancestors

8 months ago
Duration 3:13
Hailing from the Aklan region in the Philippines, the city's 300--plus Ati clan keep close ties with the history and culture of their forebears. The annual Ati-Atahan festival is a party with a purpose.

In bright orange and white costumes, yellow-gold headpiecesand with faces painted, members of Winnipeg's Ati community danceto the beat of drummers.

It's loud. It's joyous. It's the annual Ati-Atihan festival.

Every January, approximately 300Ati people in the city reconnect with their history and culture, and each other at the festival. The month-long event celebrates the Aticlan,the original Indigenous habitants of the Aklan region of the Philippines.

The purpose of the celebration is threefold: honour the baby Jesus, gather for a good timeandremember theancestors.

Group of pwoplw wearing bright orange and white smocks dance in community centre. Woman in front has long dark hair and smiles with her hands up, palms forward.
Party-goers at Winnipeg's Ati-Atihan festival dance in a moving parade to celebrate their faith and the connection to their Filipino heritage. (CinemaRolls Studios)

"Especially for the young people, they won't forget who and what they are their values, their history and their culture of the clan," said Mary Lee David, the treasurer of the AklanAssociation of Manitoba.

The colourful party, the meaning behind the dark face paintand the history behind the clanis the subjectof a new micro-documentary by Chaira Plaga,18, and three of her classmates in the Create program at Sisler High School in Winnipeg. Eighteen-year-olds Jassey Bombita Galatierraand Cyrhyl Zamora, andLaura Marie Carandang, 19, also worked with Plaga on the project.

Sisler Create is a post-high school program thattrains students in the creative digital arts, including filmmaking.

The short documentary was produced as part of CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create, an ongoing video storytelling collaboration.

Meet the filmmakers

Black and white portrait of young woman with long, straight dark hair and round glasses. She is wearing a V-neck top and jeans and sits on a stool. Her legs are crossed and she has her hands crossed on her knee.
Chaira Plaga (CinemaRolls Studios)

Chaira Plaga is a Sisler High School graduate with a background in motion and graphic design. Taking visual effectsin the last year sparked herinterest in cinematography.

Now, Plaga wants to discover her potential in film production. She is happy to be part of Sisler'spost-high school filmcohort this year, and is excited to discover her other talents. In her free time, she likes cleaning, listening to music, and taking expanding her photography skills.

Black and White portrait of young woman with long dark hair with lighter streaks. She sits on a stool and is wearing a light-coloured tank top underneath a button-down, collared top. She wears dark cargo pants and has her hands clasped on her lap.
Cyrhyl Zamora (CinemaRolls Studios)

Cyrhyl Zamora has always had a passion for creation. She loves painting, sculpting, writing and photography.

After being introduced to filmmaking in high school, she discovered a new passion. She uses her comfort with cameras and photography to capture her vision. She wants to continue to perfect her skills of filmmaking and storytelling to elevate the quality of her work.

Black and white portrait of a young women with long, straight dark hair with lighter strands. She is wearing a white, cable knit sweater and dark pants. Her right hand is reaching up to push her hair behind her ear.
Jassey Bombita Galatierra (CinemaRolls Studios)

Jassey Bombita Galatierra is a St. John's High School graduate and joined Sisler Create to pursue her love of filmmaking, photography and editing. In her free time, sheenjoys listening to music, watching Korean TV shows, dancing and playing games.

Black and white portrait of a young woman with long, straight dark hair. She has round glasses and is wearing a black tank top underneath a light-coloured button down shirt. She is wearing light-coloured pants and bracelets around her right wrist.
Laura Marie Carandang (CinemaRolls Studios)

Laura Marie Carandang is sociable and hard-working. She loves filmmaking and editing. She has been editing videos since 2016 as a hobby. Laura enjoys going out, dancingand playing video games in her free time.

More about Project POV: Sisler Create

CBC Manitoba's Project POV: SislerCreate is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBCManitoba journalists to produce short docs. The collaboration is in its second year. You can see past projectshere.

During fall 2023, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking studentsand led producing workshopsat theCreate program at Sisler High School.

The post-high school programfocuseson education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.