Sine Totoo presents Pantasya ng Bayan

In a search for the original Darna movie, Howie Severino (photo) and his team end up in Thailand. There, they find an intriguing connection between the Filipina superheroine and Buddhist monks.

Relive their journey of discovery on Pantasya ng Bayan, when it airs tonight on GMA 7’s Sine Totoo.

Darna, Encantadia, Mulawin are some of the first fantasy on TV that captivated the Philippines. But where did our fascination with fantasy begin? Howie seeks the answer in the country’s lost cinema. Learning that most early Filipino movies are missing, the I-Witness team embarks on an investigation that takes them to Bangkok and then further north in Thailand.

There they find a vintage film with a familiar character with snakes sprouting from her head. But is the film really the original Darna? And if so, how did it end up in this corner of our Buddhist neighbor?

Before the feature airs, Howie, also Sine Totoo host, explains how his team rode on the popularity of Darna to discuss the deeper issue of lost Filipino films.

Aided by movie historian and acclaimed documentarist Nick Deocampo, Howie’s team solves a quirky showbiz mystery and brings home a completely unexpected bonus.