Ari: My Life with a King is a 2015 Philippine independent film by Carlo Encisco Catu about a Kapampangan high school student learning about his native language from a Kapampangan-language poet.
Premise
Jaypee (Ronwaldo Martin), a high school student, was tasked to find one of his school's famed alumni. His search leads him to a remote village where the ash from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo still covers the community. There he meets Conrado (Francisco Guinto) and a group of old poet who continues their efforts in preserving Pampanga's literary traditions.[1]
Francisco Guinto as Conrado; an older Kapampangan man who is known as the "King of Poets" in Pampanga. He teaches Jaypee the Kapampangan language. Guinto, like his character, is a Kampampangan poet as well.
Cecille Yumul as Miding
Chloe Carpio as Tintin
Jonalyn Ablong as Marlyn
The cast also includes poets Policarpio Batac as Tatang Haspe, Eufrocina de la Peña as Apung Ciniang, and Felix Garcia as Tatang Gili
Production
Ari (which means "King" in Kapampangan) was a venture of the Center for Kapampangan Studies (CKS). It was directed by Carlo Enciso Catu, a hotel and restaurant management student at the Holy Angel University (HAU).[3] The production team consist of HAU's students, staff, officials and alumni. HAU also allocated ₱1 million for Ari.[4]
Set in Porac, Pampanga, Ari was produced as a means to promote awareness on the Kapampangans status as dying language as well as its usage among younger people.[3] It is also inspired from the tradition of Kapampangan poets' of selecting a "king" among themselves. The cast for the film also had Kapampangan poets as members including Batac, de la Peña, Garcia, and Guinto.[4]
The CKS remarked that the film was finished within a week by an "all-amateur" team.[3] The film did have involvement of professionals who offered services at a discounted rate as well as some volunteers.[4]
