Lost 1936 Filipino film resurfaces in Belgium after nearly 90 years

A long-lost piece of Philippine cinema history has been found in Brussels, Belgium, nearly a century after it vanished. The 1936 film “Diwata ng Karagatan,” directed by Carlos Vander Tolosa and produced by Jose Nepomuceno, was uncovered at the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique. Its rediscovery shifts the historical timeline of surviving Filipino films, predating the 1937 film “Zamboanga,” previously considered the oldest extant title.

In a social media post on Friday, film historian Nick Deocampo confirmed he viewed the surviving 35mm print on Oct. 28, calling it a breakthrough for national film preservation.

Rediscovery and preservation in Brussels: Deocampo said the film was deposited in 2016 by the now-defunct Belgian laboratory CineLabor, which had stored several unidentified reels later transferred to the national archive. The nitrate print remains in stable condition but has not yet been digitized. According to Deocampo, the discovery was the result of years of collaboration with European archives. “What makes the discovery of this film doubly historical is that this is the first and perhaps the only film that is extant that was produced by the Father of Philippine Cinema, José Nepomuceno,” he told GMA News.

Historical context and production legacy: Produced under Nepomuceno’s Parlatone Hispano-Filipino studio, “Diwata ng Karagatan” premiered in 1936 and was re-premiered in 1939 following screenings in France, Belgium and South America. Like many films of its era, it was presumed lost when Philippine film archives were destroyed during World War II. Nepomuceno, who began his career in the silent film era with “Dalagang Bukid” (1919), is regarded as the “Father of Philippine Cinema.”