ABSTRACT
Transmitted primarily through oral/aural/corporeal milieus, intangible cultural heritage is particularly vulnerable at the time of political catastrophe and warfare when the caretakers of the heritage (as its physical repositories) are destroyed, suppressed or dispersed. The continuation of heritage is also threatened by the increasing indifference toward traditional performing arts among younger generations. Reflecting on my previous filmmaking projects on Cambodian shadow puppet theatre (sbaek thomm) and gong and drum music from the southern Philippines (kulintang), I will explore the effective uses and relevance of audiovisual media for safeguarding the intangible heritage. I will first discuss the limitation of a product-oriented filmmaking, and then argue for a process-oriented approach where audiovisual media is regarded as a living and organic site where comments and critiques can be incorporated throughout the entire process of filmmaking including research, filming, editing and post-production activities.
