LOS ANGELES, USA – Lav Diaz’s newest film, Phantosmia, was officially announced as an out-of-competition entry in the 81st Venice Film Festival to be held from August 28 to September 7. With the announcement, Lav now has a record of eight films accepted by the world’s oldest film festival since his first entry in the festival on the Lido, Death in the Land of Encantos in 2007. Phantosmia, which the celebrated Filipino auteur titled after the condition defined as an olfactory disorder that makes people smell things that are not there, stars Ronnie Lazaro, Janine Gutierrez, a ..read more

LOS ANGELES, USA – Baltasar Kormakur makes a radical shift from loud action movies like Mark Wahlberg’s 2 Guns and Contraband to an East-West love story, Touch. The result is a quietly compelling, tender drama-romance. Baltasar, whom Variety reported in 2013 was going to direct Universal Pictures’ Hollywood remake of Erik Matti’s On the Job (whatever happened to that project?), proves surprisingly adept in working in a different vein. Spanning several decades and set in Iceland, London, and Japan, Touch is absorbing and compellingly peaceful (quite ..read more

After making the laureled short film Dribol for Cinemaybank, a film festival of Maybank Philippines, in 2018, filmmakers Kat Sumagaysay and Richard Salvadico, also romantic partners in real life, have since made a pact to never direct a film separately.  This, despite the former pinning her hopes on becoming a writer and working abroad. “Like an Emily in Paris kind of vibe,” Sumagaysay tells me. “It was Richard who really wanted to become a filmmaker since he was in high school.” At the time, Sumagaysay was still a mass communication student at Central Philippine University, while Salvadi ..read more

You’ve probably already heard of the movie Longlegs. The viral marketing hit of the year so far (though not without criticism for its official Philippine poster) is a horror film from Neon, the same company that distributed the likes of Parasite and Anatomy of a Fall. It stars Maika Monroe, already the breakout horror queen of the 21st century, with indie hits like It Follows and Watcher already under her belt. Then, there’s Nicholas Cage playing the eponymous Satanic serial killer. A creature so acutely removed from marketing that it almost borders on urban legend. The character actor, best k ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) has announced the first batch of official entries for its 2024 edition at its grand launch on Tuesday, July 16. While the entries were being announced, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Don Artes said that rather than eight entries, the 50th MMFF will have 10 entries instead. It may be noted that the 49th MMFF – the highest grossing edition in the film festival’s history – also had a total of 10 entries during its run. Here are the 50th MMFF’s first batch of official entries, which were chosen based on their ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – Save the dates, Filipino cinephiles! The annual Cinemalaya film festival is returning for its 2024 edition with a promising lineup of new movies from upcoming and veteran local filmmakers.  In celebration of its 20th year, the independent film festival will have the theme “Loob, Lalim, Lakas.” This year’s entries are steered by the values of the Filipino artists’ loob (core) that connects filmmakers to audiences. Lalim refers to the depth of the entries whose stories convey societal realities that need attention, while the strength or Lakas is portrayed in thought-pr ..read more

At a restaurant in the Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City, activist Jonas Burgos, son of press freedom stalwart Joe Burgos, who was mostly active during the Marcos dictatorship, was abducted by suspected military personnel. That was on April 28, 2007, under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime. 17 years later, Jonas, who became part of the underground movement in 1998, remains missing — a highly documented and one of the most telling cases of enforced disappearances in the country. Such is the shape of the story behind Alipato at Muog, a documentary entry at this year’s Cinemalaya Philippine Indep ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – Save the date, A’TIN! P-pop powerhouse SB19 is set to conclude their PAGTATAG! era with the nationwide theatrical release of the documentary film – also titled PAGTATAG! – on August 28.  “Tagged as P-pop kings, SB19 confronts a year of challenges as they move forward to a new era of music, career, and emancipation. This is SB19’s PAGTATAG! era,” the caption for the film’s teaser read.  Helmed by Jed Regala and produced by 1Z Entertainment and First Light Studios, the documentary aims to feature the highs and lows the P-pop group underwent the past year – from re ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – Gird your loins, everyone! The comedy-drama cult classic The Devil’s Prada is reportedly getting a sequel almost two decades later.  According to US media Puck, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter, the continuation of the 2006 hit movie is already in early development, with original screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna penning the script. Disney is reportedly developing the sequel.  Moreover, the reports noted that the sequel will revolve around Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of fashion magazine Runway, whose career is at risk as the traditional magazine publ ..read more

In my defense of X, the first film of this Mia Goth-tinged horror trilogy, I lauded its pornstar-studded story of young misfits shooting X-rated content at a 1970s farmhouse as actually being a critique of American conservatism, its prudishness and hypocrisy — however crude or uneven it may seem at times. It’s scary because its veiled Christian undertones work. The film suggests that forcibly repressing sexual desires, no matter how old or young, can become a live wire sparking toward combustion, yet its subtlety is key, sheathing its themes underneath horror collateral, thereby allowing the m ..read more