Lé Baltar 
Filipino filmmaker Jerrold Tarog’s historical biopic trilogy, which began a decade ago, may just have run its course with Quezon, notwithstanding the latest installment’s prescient coda. The movie first played in Philippine theaters in October last year and screened in the Limelight program of the 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam, …
Filipino filmmaker Carl Joseph Papa’s latest film 58th is a gripping animated docudrama on the infamous 2009 Maguindanao massacre, now known as the single deadliest attack on journalists in recorded history. Recently screened in the Harbour programme of the 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam, where the director’s critically acclaimed Iti …
Another small-town story set in its director’s hometown, Romblon island, Filipino filmmaker Ryan Machado’s sophomore feature Raging follows a young man (played by Elijah Canlas) in the aftermath of sexual abuse. Unfolding in the mid-1990s, the film is pensive and unhurriedly paced, portraying its central character’s conflicts as more inward …
There is a small rural enclave in southern Philippines called Sitio Masalay, whose fields were turned into a horrific site of carnage one fateful day in November 2009, summarily taking 58 innocent lives. In the aftermath, only 57 bodies were found, and one remains missing. Director Carl Joseph Papa presciently …
Filipino genre filmmaker Pedring Lopez world premiered his first English-language film, the neo-noir thriller Shadow Transit, at last year’s QCinema International Film Festival. An independent co-production between the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Canada, Shadow Transit centers on a chance encounter between a grieving singer-photographer and a drifting DJ, resulting in …
Already the second film adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s 1954 coming-of-age novel of the same name, Bonjour Tristesse, a debut feature by Canadian director Durga Chew-Bose, offers a modern, feminist spin on the original material, which was an overnight sensation written by the French novelist at age 18. Remakes can become …
Whereas Kelly Reichardt’s latest indie fare The Mastermind, a character study of an arguably decent criminal shot 1970s-style, starring the brilliant and now ubiquitous Josh O’Connor, tersely eviscerates our notion of a crime/heist movie — though the resulting picture feels rather coiled — Gus Van Sant’s comeback feature Dead Man’s …
Children under age seven, in Japanese culture, are considered “of the gods,” which means they have the purest connection with the divine, until they inevitably transition into the mortal realm, taking their first few steps into adulthood. Such is the case for the titular protagonist of Little Amélie or the …
After making its premiere in the Orizzonti competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Ali Asgari’s latest feature Divine Comedy is set to make its Philippine debut as part of the 13th edition of the QCinema International Film Festival, running November 14 to 23. The film, which takes a metatextual …
Originally titled Sehnsucht in Sangerhausen, which translates as “Longing in Sangerhausen,” Julian Radlmaier’s latest feature and Locarno 2025 in-competition entry Phantoms of July unfolds as a spirited absurdist dramedy set in the titular mining town that formed part of East Germany prior to reunification. It is the kind of movie …
Catholic guilt is the monster that constantly rears its ugly head in Little Trouble Girls, a feature debut by Slovenian director Urška Djukić about an introverted choir girl who grapples with a sexual awakening and a renewed identity amidst pervasive conservatism and social pressures. The coming-of-age drama won the FIPRESCI …
Cinderella meets Monstro Elisasue in Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt’s directorial debut The Ugly Stepsister, which at once functions like a twisted paean to and a biting, though still-restrained, rebuke of the whole Cinderella fairy tale, all hinged on a sinisterly fascinating performance from Lea Myren, who plays the title character. …
Romanian writer-director Andrei Epure already tested the premise of his feature debut Don’t Let Me Die, which premiered in the Filmmakers of the Present section of the 2025 Locarno Film Festival, in his 2021 short film Intercom 15, an entry in Cannes’ Critics’ Week. In fact, exactly seven minutes into …
Renoir, the sophomore feature from Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa, continues her cinematic exploration of the notions of death, old age, and loneliness, preoccupations that loom over her body of work, such as in her feature debut Plan 75 (2022), the anthology film Ten Years Japan (2018), which she co-directed with …
Shown in a moment of global and political strife, one cannot fault an audience who might be wary of another immigrant drama like Souleymane’s Story, especially when a white filmmaker is behind it and considering how Hollywood and other major studios have depicted and taken advantage of such narratives. Even …
Following its Sundance world premiere in early 2025, The Things You Kill, the third feature from Iranian filmmaker Alireza Khatami, is set to screen in Philippine theaters as part of the 2025 QCinema International Film Festival. Selected as the Canadian submission for the 2026 Oscar Best International Feature Film category, …
Selected as Italy’s official contender for best international feature film at the 2026 Oscars, Francesco Costabile’s sophomore feature Familia carries the thematic preoccupations of their directorial debut Una Femmina: The Code of Silence, a crime drama loosely based on Italian journalist Lirio Abbate’s investigative book, which wrestles with women victims …
There are only so many ways one can put up a facade, and yet every time Matthias (an unassumingly effective Albrecht Schuch) takes on a different life in different social scenarios, in front of total strangers, it’s as if all the pretense is infinite. Matthias has faked it so real …
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s debut feature A Useful Ghost exhibits a hooky high concept, one that’s centered on a woman who dies of dust pollution and gets reunited with her grieving husband by possessing a vacuum cleaner, much to the chagrin of her in-laws. The director dresses this concept, essentially a loose …
Screening in the Before Midnight section of the 2025 QCinema International Film Festival, Dutch filmmaker Morgan Knibbe’s sophomore feature The Garden of Earthly Delights portrays a gritty, neon-tinged Manila inferno centered on a young queer protagonist played by first-time actor JP Rodriguez. A teenager named Ginto descends deep into the …