Last night, my wife and I watched the “Eskrimadors” documentary with Terence, who brought the DVD.

It was quite well done! This “Eskrimadors” documentary focuses on the Filipino martial arts traditions of the island of Cebu.

This was a good idea as it gave the film an excellent focus on a geographical area. To include other FMAs from other provinces would have made this a bit unwieldy. Consequently, the documentary did not cover well-known FMAs such as Modern Arnis, Kombatan, and Kali Illustrisimo.

The documentary delved into the Cebuano history of FMAs. It included topics such as the Canete family, the role of the Saavedras, the Labangon Fencing Club, Venancio “Anciong” Bacon, and the bitter rivalry between Doce Pares and the Balintawak schools.

Styles mentioned in the documentary are Doce Pares, Teovel’s Balintawak, Nickelstick Balintawak, Lapunti Arnis de Abanico, and Liborio Heyrosa Decuerdas.

The director of “Eskrimadors” interviewed Ciriaco “Cacoy” Canete, Dionisio Canete, Undo Caburnay, Nick Elizar, and Rodrigo Maranga. Of course, various techniques were demonstrated, some of which were incredible.

One thing that I picked up toward the end was the old-school players’ recognition of the need to move toward “civilized” sparring. Specifically, they recognized that the brutal juego todo (death matches) of the past were detrimental to the growth of FMAs. This is especially true in light of the popularity of non-Filipino arts in the Philippines. On the one hand, the old-timers seemed happy that FMAs are gaining immense popularity worldwide.

On the other hand, they lamented that the younger generation in the Philippines appeared less interested. Terence pointed out that recent legislation in the Philippines recognized Arnis as a national sport. This may help reverse this trend in the Philippines.

In any case, it was heartening to hear the old-timers express their desire to pass their knowledge to willing students. Here’s hoping that globalization positively affects the FMAs!

If you are not able to view this video, click here.

In short, I highly recommend adding “Eskrimadors” to your FMA video library!

Additional Reading