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GIRL ON THE TURTLE'S BACK

DALAGITA SA LIKOD NG PAWIKAN

By Paul STA. ANA

CREATIVE CABOOSE - as PROD

LGBT - Development 2023

A boyish island girl goes on a journey at sea to find her missing fisherwoman-mother only to be plunged into the depths of an illegal wildlife trade.

- Year of production
- 2023
- Genres
- LGBT, Environmental, Fantasy
- Countries
- PHILIPPINES
- Languages
- FILIPINO, MANDARIN
- Budget
- 0.6 - 1 M$
- Duration
- 100 mn
- Director(s)
- Paul STA. ANA
- Writer(s)
- Bylle TABORA
- Producer(s)
- Kim Homer GARCIA (Creative Caboose)
- Synopsis
- 14-year-old ANINA MACARAYA is faced with the greatest tragedy in her life when her mother goes missing while out fishing in the sea. Upon consulting a spirit doctor who feels her mother’s presence in a vision of a golden sea turtle in Turtle Island, Anina decides to heed the signs, thinking that she might still find her mother there.
  
  Together with her best friend BOGS, they embark on a tumultuous journey to find her mother. But the crashing waves leave them marooned in an uncharted island inhabited by sea turtles.
  To their surprise, the island has become a site for illegal turtle poaching by foreign Chinese fishermen led by HAROLD, a Filipino wildlife trader.
  
  Harold himself also made it to the island as a matter of desperation. Before making it there, he committed an act of violence: in his attempt to protect his parental rights against his wife’s insistence that she keep sole custody of his young daughter, he inadvertently kills her. Thus, meeting the foreign poachers in Turtle Island serves as a coincidental escape.
  
  At Turtle Island, Anina and Bogs find themselves in deep trouble when they cross paths with Harold and the Chinese turtle poachers. With nowhere to run, Anina is cornered, prompting her to jump towards the edge of the poacher’s boat and into the water, discovering its depths with an unlikely ally in the form of a golden sea turtle, the mythical creature which brings good tidings to those who are able to see it.
  
  As Anina sinks deep into the waters, the mythical GOLDEN TURTLE carries her back to safety. Without any trace of her human mother, Anina realizes that as a young girl who must learn to fend for herself, her journey has only just begun.