Filipino Martial Arts Takes The Spotlight In The New Shortfilm Trailer, BALINTAWAK
If you favor learning more about Filipino martial arts and if you look in the right places, you’re bound to come across things you might not have ever known about this particular fighting system. I especially found myself in such a position when inquiring a little more about stuntman, Eskrimador and independent filmmaker Bryan Sloyer‘s brand new trailer for the upcoming FMA training reel, Balintawak, which, in and of itself, is more than just a title.
“Balintawak is a specific style of Escrima…” he says. “…There are many many styles of Balintawak alone and Escrima itself holds too many to count. Many of the forms and styles are passed down father to son and so not all are known outside the Philippines.”.
Based on a concept Sloyer presented roughly in his previous action short, Bahad, back in March, Balintawak will set the stage for a more evolved treatment of that concept that will further illustrate Sloyer’s particular style of training when it comes to Balintawak, known as “Cuentada” style. Sloyer delved into it a little further in explaining what separates the two.
“All Balintawak styles are close range, single stick combative arts.” he said. “But Cuentada differs slightly in regards to stick handling and targeting positions. The concepts in all Balintawak styles are the same.” He then added, “Pure Balintawak, in summation, simply means true and purely just balintawak style stick playing and techniques, without any universally known Escrima technique thrown in the mix.”
There are already a few projects that are now public in presenting a stage for Filipino martial arts, but it doesn’t hurt to see other artists and professionals bring themselves into the fray to help expand the teachings. It’s a very layered and fascinating art, one which has played a major role in how action choreography is obserbed and performed for film and TV, and I look forward to sharing that very reel when to comes out hopefully late August as planned.
In the meantime, check out the trailer below and feel free to subscribe to Sloyer‘s channel in the embed!
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!