Rituals of the Diaspora: Lyn Pacificar, Katuuran

Amidst the fast-paced, tech-forward, multicultural urban landscape of Los Angeles, the Pacificar home in East Hollywood is an unexpected site for Filipino ritual healing, ancestral worship, and urban farming for plant medicine. Rituals of the Diaspora (2023) follows Lyn Pacificar as she navigates her daily life as a katuuran and albularya, Philippine shaman and folk herbalist, in Los Angeles, showcasing what it means to be a traditional healer in a modern world. Working against the colonial erasure of indigenous knowledge and the loss of cultural practice due to migration, Lyn manages to reinvigorate Philippine ancestral practice while paying homage to the land she now calls home. Strongly supported by her tight-knit family, Lyn is able to create containers for different types of ritual, both public and private. In these sacred spaces, Lyn helps connect diasporic Filipinos to their heritage and puts them in communion with their ancestors, mobilizing deep individual and collective healing. 

Structured in the form of a ritual, this ethnographic film weaves together three significant events that depict the essence of Lyn’s healing work – the public memorial of a community member, the private summer solstice ritual of the Pacificar family, and an intimate, one-on-one spiritual consultation. "Rituals of the Diaspora" invites viewers into the world of Filipino traditional healing and allows them to witness the feat of holding onto old ways in a place where new ways prevail. This work presents the extraordinary in the ordinary and asks for its audience to consider the role of ritual in their daily lives.

More about Lyn Pacificar: Herbalaria & Lyn Pacificar Art

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

Filipino American National Historical Society Conference
19 July 2024, 1 pm
United Way Greater Houston
fanhs2024.com

Past Screenings

Diwa Filipino Film Festival
diwafilmfest.com

Society for Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival
svafilmandmediafestival.org

Credits

Director, Producer, Ethnographer: Kayla Sotomil
Director of Photography, Editor: Harry Cepka
Color Grading: Reason Studio
Colorist: Roy Yu Sun
Color Producer: Xi Shen
Sound Re-Recordist: Ricky Berger
Film Artwork & Title Design: Loisse Ledres

with
Lyn Pacificar
Gilbert Pacificar
Soraya Pacificar
Gavin Pacificar
Leticia Dillera
Ari Anonuevo

Country of Origin: USA
Language: English
Duration: 37:55