From land disputes to trans struggles, Cinemalaya spotlights untold Filipino stories
Every year, Filipino cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike brave the August rains to attend the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, a fixture in the local film calendar that has long been staged at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines.
Since its founding in 2005, Cinemalaya has provided a platform for voices outside the mainstream, supporting 10 full-length features and 10 shorts annually. Some of its Best Picture winners have even gone on to represent the country at the Academy Awards.
The festival’s name is a portmanteau of cinema and laya — “freedom” in Filipino — reflecting its mission to champion filmmakers who “boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience.” It also aims to position the Philippines as “the cinematic centre of creativity and free artistic expression” in Asia.
For more than 20 years, Cinemalaya has done just that.
But its 21st edition arrived with unusual challenges. Two years ago, it was forced to move out of its longtime home at the CCP, now under renovation. Funding setbacks then forced a delay, moving its usual August run to October.
This year’s theme, “Layag sa Alon, Hangin, at Unos” — in English, “Sail through the Waves, Winds, and Storms” — acknowledges this turbulence.
“We thought everything would be smooth sailing,” festival director Chris Millado admitted during Cinemalaya’s September 3 press conference. “But no. Cinemalaya, as you might have heard, almost capsized.”
Despite setbacks, the festival pressed ahead. From October 3 to 12, 20 films will be screened at Shangri-La Mall cinemas in Metro Manila, continuing Cinemalaya’s tradition of presenting independent voices to wider audiences.
“Remember, 21 years ago, the whole Filipino industry was caught in the doldrums. There were no waves. It was stagnant,” Millado recalled. “And through Cinemalaya, it started to persevere and soften until it started harnessing the direction of this wave after wave of a new breed of filmmakers and their storytelling.”
Among this year’s entries is “Republika ng Pipolipinas,” the full-length directorial debut of Renei Dimla. The film tells the story of a disillusioned farmer who renounces her Filipino citizenship and establishes her own micronation to resist a government project that threatens to seize her land.
The premise resonates strongly in a country where agriculture remains central to livelihoods, and where recent investigations into flood-control infrastructure have exposed deep-seated corruption.
“It’s a mockumentary because it brings together people from all walks of life — a mother whose child was killed during the drug war, an artist without government support. They all form the republic,” Dimlai told Global South, noting the social commentary aspect of the film.
Transgender struggles take the spotlight in Kevin Alambra’s “Warla,” a crime drama loosely inspired by real events. It follows a 19-year-old transgender woman who finds the family she longs for in a gang of trans sisters that kidnaps foreign men to fund gender-affirming surgeries.
The Philippines is home to the largest trans population in Asia — about 239,000 people, according to World Population Review. Yet in a predominantly Catholic country, queer communities continue to face stigma and discrimination.
“I felt the need to tell it and to humanise trans women because real people are behind this story,” Alambra told Global South World. “We hope that people start to be more active in understanding transgender lives, because it’s their lives we’re discussing.”
Another feature, “Paglilitis” (The Trial) by Cheska Marfori, focuses on an employee persuaded by a determined lawyer to file charges against her powerful former boss, who had sexually harassed her in the workplace.
Set in the Philippines — dubbed the “social media capital of the world,” where nearly three-quarters of the population is online — the film examines how support and backlash collide in a digital space shaped by the rise of so-called woke culture.
“The patriarchy is deeply embedded in the office in this story, along with the power structures that sustain it,” Marfori told Global South World. “The office becomes a representation of the Philippines and, on a larger scale, the world.”
Other full-length features in the competition are “Bloom Where You Are Planted" by Nonilon Abao, "Child No. 82" by Tim Rone, "Cinemartyrs" by Sari Dalena, "Habang Nilalamon ng Hydra ang Kasaysayan" by Dustin Celestino, "Padamlágan" (Night Light) by Jenn Romano, "Open Endings" by Nigel Santos and Keavy Vicente, and "Raging" by Ryan Machado.
Screenings will primarily be held at Shangri-La Plaza, with Ayala Malls Cinemas and Gateway Cineplex also serving as festival venues.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
