Institute History
Description
A group of young Pilipino boys gathers at the creek. Through the lush forest, sun dapples the ground and water. A kind of ritual begins to transpire. The boys, one by one, are circumcised in a requisite rite of passage. A young girl, Daisy, is also there and becomes her father's stoic assistant in the act. Life in the remote Pilipino village seems simple and innocent.
But as the children grow up, the plot becomes more complicated. Cut to Daisy, a beautiful young woman. She is dissatisfied with her life, and her father is continually drunk and increasingly abusive. An arranged marriage seems her only way out, but she has her eye on a different life. She is already falling in love with her female childhood friend—a relationship that threatens to tear the village apart.
As he did so well in The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, Auraeus Solito again offers a glimpse into another culture; this time, it's not the grey city but the lush greens and rich hues of earth and sky. His story transpires in a magical, rustic style, where Old World spiritualism commingles with colorful Christian rituals. In Tuli, Solito transforms Daisy's male-dominated existence into a place where new ideas can thrive and prosper.