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By Matthew Ordonez

This review contains important plot details and potential spoilers of the film.

Certain places inspire certain kinds of movies. In the same way iconic cities like New York, Paris, and London have their own aesthetic, so does Manila. Manila has been portrayed in many masterpieces like Lino Brocka‘s “Manila in the Claws of Light” and Ishmael Bernal‘s “Manila by Night“, among many others. Throughout these films, Manila is a dark, decaying city of vice and danger. Its characters are often worn down and consumed by the city, forever changed, corrupted, scarred.

Director Petersen Vargas contributes to this tradition through the queer perspective in his latest feature,...

The Film Academy of the Philippines announces the Official Shortlist of movies being considered as Philippine submission for the Best International Feature Film Category at the 98th Academy Awards.

Seven films will be undergoing the selection process for full length feature to be submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States, which will be holding the 98th Academy Awards—more commonly known as the Oscars—in March 2026.

The Film Academy of the Philippines, the authorized agency to release information on the Oscar selection, has assembled a Selection Committee approved by AMPAS, and will oversee the selection process.

Filmmaker Paolo Villaluna, newly appointed Director-General of the Film Academy,...

Isabel Sandoval, the Hollywood-based Filipino filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed “Lingua Franca,” is putting the finishing touches on her latest feature “Moonglow,” a romantic noir set against the backdrop of Marcos-era Philippines in 1979.

The film is selected for the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf), the project market that operates concurrently with Hong Kong FilMart.

The Filipino-language thriller follows Dahlia, a disillusioned police aide who steals money from the safe of her corrupt police chief boss, distributing it to slum dwellers whose homes were destroyed. Unaware of her actions, the police chief assigns Dahlia to investigate the theft alongside his nephew Charlie — who happens to be Dahlia’s former lover.

“I’ve always been enamored with the methodical, slow-burn thrillers of Jean-Pierre Melville,” Sandoval told Variety. “The idea of marrying those sensibilities with the lyrical camerawork and romanticism of Max Ophüls is how the film started.”

With a budget of $1.08 million,...

BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival (March 19-30) has unveiled its full line-up, with 56 features across three strands, exploring subjects such as Kenya’s ballroom scene and the appeal of dating apps.

The programme has films and shorts from 41 countries, with six world premiere features. These include Kenyan filmmaker Njoroge Muthoni’s documentaryHow To Live, which explores Nairobi’s vibrant ballroom scene and celebrates queer African joy.

In Yu-jin Lee’s Manok, the owner of a South Korean lesbian bar must return to her small hometown after clashing with the city’s younger queer community.

Buenos Aires-set comedy drama Few...

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has selected a further 14 features, including 11 world premieres, to complete the lineup of its Official Selection Competition.

The new titles include the world premiere of Serhii Kastornykh’s Ukrainian feature The Mousetrap. Shot during a break between Kastornykh’s military service periods, the film follows a soldier trapped alone in a bunker on the frontline of the Russian war.

Scroll down for the full list of Poff Official Selection Competition titles

Also selected is the world premiere of Juris Kursietis’ third feature The Exalted, in which a world-renowned German organist uncovers her Latvian husband...

After notching box office successes with Rewind and A Very Good Girl, Abs-cbn has produced another hit: Un/Happy For You.

In its opening five days, the romance film has grossed 150M Philippine pesos ($2.65M), with over 450,000 admissions.

The film will open across the U.S. and Canada on August 23 and in Australia on August 22. Un/Happy For You has also secured theatrical releases in New Zealand, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Italy, Cambodia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Malta.

Produced by Abs-cbn Studios, Star Cinema and Viva Films, the film stars Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto in the leading roles. They last acted together in 2020 action film Block Z.

The three production companies have made some of the highest-grossing films since the pandemic with hits like Deleter (2022) and A Very Good Girl (2023). Star Cinema, the film arm of Abs-cbn, produced the top-grossing Philippine film of all time with Rewind last year,...

After being a high school literature teacher for ten years, Alemberg Ang shifted into a career of film producing. His filmmaking is shaped by his passion for socio-civic issues, and Philippine arts and literature. His films have traveled extensively to festivals in Busan, Cairo, Warsaw, Taipei, Tokyo, Shanghai, Torino and others, working with filmmakers like Loy Arcenas, Antoinette Jadaone, and Petersen Vargas. He was invited to the Unesco International Meeting of Independent Producers, Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talents, Talents Tokyo, and Seafic. His projects have participated at Cinemart, Locarno Open Doors, Tribeca Film Institute Network Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, and Busan's Asian Project Market.

On the occasion of his participation in Qcinema's film market, we talked with him about the role of the producer and the misconceptions involved, producing shorts, documentaries and features and their differences, post-productions, his work in “Plan 75”, “Divine Factory”, and “Liway”, the Filipino movie industry,...

As the Korean Wave continues to wash over America and the rest of the world, its undeniable influence is flooding into other Asian cinemas. Pop culture has become South Korea’s biggest export, with K-Pop, K-Dramas, and Korean Cinema taking over airwaves, streaming services, and Western entertainment award shows. Other Asian countries have followed suit, either modeling their film industry after the South Koreans or falling into it altogether.

Like other past cultural movements, Korean Cinema’s industrial complex is paired with a distinct visual style. Derived from filmmakers like Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho, current popular K-Dramas generally align with similar aesthetic design choices and thematic story arcs. They’re normally well-composed but over-the-top in everything from campy comedic acting, saturated color schemes, precise cinematography, and unpredictable plot twists. These stories usually involve romantic or familial relationships within a genre of revenge, thriller, or mystery.

The strength of South...

Kathryn Bernardo, known as the Queen of Philippines Cinema, and Triangle Of Sadness star Dolly de Leon are both almost unrecognizable in their new movie, A Very Good Girl, which Abs-cbn and Star Cinema are opening at the U.S. box office today (October 6).

Bernardo, who is famous for her roles in romantic dramas, plays a woman hell bent on revenge against a former employer who sacked her – a glamorous retail tycoon called Mother Molly, played by De Leon. Bernardo’s character switches between her true self – down-trodden, working-class girl Mercy, now forced to scam foreigners online for a living, and her faux persona as high-rolling socialite Philo, out to trick her former boss.

“I specifically asked Star Cinema to pitch me something a bit out of the box for me – something about empowerment or a bit dark,” says Bernardo, when asked what she liked about the project. “My fans...

Abs-cbn Film Productions/Star Cinema celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, fueled by past hits like Partners in Crime, An Inconvenient Love, To Love Some Buddy, and Hello Love, Goodbye. As such, the world's premier Filipino film production and distribution company has amped up its current slate of films, paving the way for the highly anticipated release of A Very Good Girl.

The ambitious revenge comedy thriller from director Petersen Vargas' is an offbeat treat, one that occasionally flies way over the top and slaps you silly, thanks to the fierce performances of its two lead actors, Golden Globe Award and BAFTA nominee Dolly de Leon and Asian Box Office diva Kathryn Bernardo.

The film already soared up Asian cinema charts and should find a good niche here in the west. What’s all the fuss? Darling, sit back and see.

A Wicked Revenge Thriller

Prepare to cherish some of the dialogue here,...

“If life’s a bitch, be a bigger bitch,” croons one character in A Very Good Girl, an inventive and scorching dark comedy-drama that’s bound to turn heads. To that end, “payback,” as they say, is certainly a bitch, too, and director Petersen Vargas' new film is all the better for it. A Very Good Girl chronicles the ripple effects of a ruthless firing. A frustrated Philo (Kathryn Bernardo) suddenly embarks on a meticulously planned revenge plot against a stylish retail mogul named Mother Molly (Dolly de Leon). Philo is clear about her endgame: She wants to dismantle Molly’s empire and toss the woman aside.

A Very Good Girl was written by Marionne Dominique Mancol, Jumbo A. Albano, and Daniel S. Saniana. In addition to Bernardo and de Leon, it also stars Donna Cariaga, Chie Filomeno, Jake Ejercito, Ana Abad Santos, Gillian Vicencio, Kaori Oinuma, Nour Hooshmand, Althea Ruedas,...

“A Very Good Girl,” the drama starring “Triangle of Sadness” breakout Dolly De Leon and Kathryn Bernardo, has updated its U.S. release date.

Abs-cbn, the largest global studio for Filipino content, announced Tuesday that the film, directed by Petersen Vargas and written by Marianne Mancol, Daniel Saniana and Jumbo Albano, will now be released in select theaters Oct. 6 — a week earlier than previously announced.

The new date was announced with an accompany poster of the two stars, which you can see below:

Dolly De Leon and Kathryn Bernardo in “A Very Good Girl” (Star Cinema)

The film’s official logline reads: “After a heartless firing triggers a chain of unfortunate events, Philo (Bernardo) plots a meticulous revenge against retail mogul, Mother Molly (De Leon), aiming to dismantle her empire and seize the ultimate payback. This time, there is no mercy.”

The film marks Abs-cbn’s continued commitment to making...

Exclusive: The producers of indie feature Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, directed by the Philippines’ Petersen Vargas, have revealed a first look of the film, which started shooting in Manila at the end of April.

The first look image features three of the lead cast – Miguel Odron, a musician and Idol Philippines grand finalist; Jomari Angeles, a young actor who starred in Brillante Mendoza’s Ma’ Rosa; and Gold Aceron, who won acclaim for playing an intersex person in 2019 drama Metamorphosis.

The cast also includes Tommy Alejandrino, whose credits include Goyo: The Boy General and The Baseball Player, and reality star and model Argel Saycon, making his film debut.

Also written by Vargas, the film centers on a teenage runaway who joins a group of street hustlers on a road trip to fulfill their friend’s wish. It will also shoot in Pangasinan, a province in northern Philippines.

Vargas...

While Southeast Asian films have premiered at the Cannes Film Festival many times before, and even won the Palme d’Or, there’s an energy around the region this year that we haven’t felt on the Croisette at previous editions.

Tiger Stripes, a body horror from Malaysian filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu, about a young Muslim girl going through extreme puberty, premieres Wednesday in Critics Week, while Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, from Pham Thien An, a young director who is at the forefront of a new wave of Vietnamese filmmakers, has been selected for Directors’ Fortnight.

Singaporean director Anthony Chen – who won the Camera d’Or in 2013 for his debut Ilo Ilo – is back in Cannes with a mainland Chinese production The Breaking Ice, which is premiering in Un Certain Regard this weekend. He is also producing an ambitious slate of Southeast Asian and international films through his Singapore-based Giraffe Pictures.

Interfilm International Short Film Festival Berlin is back with its 38th edition, running from the 15th to the 20th of November 2022. This year the regional focus will be on the cinematography of the Philippines, while the thematic focus Ghosts of Europe looks towards the EU. Interfilm dedicates also a spotlight program to Belarusian filmmaking, which courageously takes on the current regime.

To use the organisers’ words: “The competitions present themselves as usual politically, combative and at the same time empathetic and full of confidence. Great stories meet abstract animation, essayistic forms meet concrete narration. (…) Interforum is the place to discuss and learn, and various special programs and events round off the week dedicated to short film.“

You can find the full programme on the official website here.

Here are all the Asian titles:

International Competition

Anxious Body by Yoriko Mizushiri // France – Japan 2021

A Guitar in the Bucket by Boyoung Kim...

Selections include new projects from directors Farkhat Sharipov and Ash Mayfair.

The 3rd Tokyo Gap-Financing Market (Tgfm) has unveiled 20 projects selected for financing and development at Tiffcom, the affiliated content market of Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

Selections include new projects by known directors such as recent Berlinale Generation 14plus prize-winner Farkhat Sharipov (Scheme), Ash Mayfair (The Third Wife) and Tom Waller (The Cave).

Hong Kong’s Toe Yuen, known for Annecy prize-winner My Life As McDull (2001), also has a new animation in the lineup.

Organised by UniJapan, Tgfm will run as part of Tiffcom online October 25-27. The 35th...

Exclusive: Filipino production house Daluyong Studios, founded by Alemberg Ang, a co-producer on Japan’s Best International Feature Oscars submission Plan 75, is partnering with Tan Si En’s Singapore-based Momo Film Co to co-produce a slate of features and documentaries.

The joint slate includes feature films Don’t Cry, Butterfly, from rising Vietnamese filmmaker Duong Dieu Linh; and Tropical Rain, Death-Scented Kiss, directed by US-Singapore animation filmmaker Charlotte Hong Bee Her; as well as short film and feature Bold Eagle, directed by the Philippines’ Whammy Alcazaren; and documentary feature Tens Across The Borders, from Sze-Wei Chan.

Daluyong previously partnered with Tan Si En and Anthony Chen’s Giraffe Pictures on Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, from Filipino filmmaker Petersen Vargas, which is currently in pre-production. The project, about a teenage runaway who falls in with a group of hustlers, won the Seafic Award at the 2019 Southeast Asia Fiction...

The 25th edition of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is about to kick off, and between 12-28 of November the audience will have the oportunity to watch a great number of films from Asia, strewn across festival’s various program sections, including all competition segments. We went through the complete program and counted no more or less than 69 films from the broader Asian region.

Quite surprising is the amount of competition titles in the main selection, with three world premieres, four international. Lu ZHang’s “Yanagawa” will have its European premiere at PÖFF.

Yerzhanov returns to Tallinn a year after he presented two films at the festival, the main competition title “Ulbolsyn” about a woman who comes to a Kazhak village to “steer trouble”, and the oddball comedy “Yellow Cat” screened in the Current Waves program. Kirill Sokolov is also back two years after the premiere of his critically acclaimed...

Full Circle Lab, the Southeast Asian project and talent development program co-led by Matthieu Darras and Izabela Igel alongside the Film Development Council of the Philippines, is poised for a third edition. There will also be a particular emphasis on training for the role of producer, with the addition of a Creative Producers Lab.

The Labs will take place online with workshops from Sept. 20 to Oct. 1, 2021 and be preceded by the Fdcp’s Film Industry Conference, open to a larger audience.

The objective is to identify, nurture and support creative projects from the Philippines and Southeast Asia, across features and series, and at different stages (development and post-production).

Leading creative names from the Philippines and the Southeast Asia region including producers Jeremy Chua, John Badalu, producer-director Antoinette Jadaone (“Fan Girl”), directors Sheron Dayoc (“Women of the Weeping River”) and Bui Thac Chuyen (“Adrift”) will join with their latest projects.

Mentors...

Tric and Tib are friends who are about to finish school. The adolescent interests in music and photography is an integral part of their bond. Like everyone else who leaves the sanctuary of school, they too have their doubts and questions about future in particular and life in general. Tric has a lot more feelings for Tib than what could be relegated as friendship. When his subtle indicators do not seem to get through, he tries to show his love through a collage of photographs. This somehow reaches the school bulletin board and Tric is wrecked. The two go different ways after a fight the same night. A few years later, Tib comes back to visit his town with the collage of photographs as his guide. Many things have changed in the town and we find out where his memories lead him.

“Geography Lessons” is part of Shorts 2: Desiring...

Screen UK Star Of Tomorrow Moin Hussain will present his project Birchanger Green.

Screen Star of Tomorrow Moin Hussain, Egypt’s Mohamed Siam, North Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska and UK-Yemini filmmaker Sara Ishaq are among the 16 directors who will present projects at the 16th edition of the Atelier co-production meeting in May.

The initiative, run by Cannes Cinefondation, will take place within the framework of the Cannes Film Festival, from May 14-21.

A total of 15 projects from 15 countries will attend this year.

Hussain will present his debut feature project Birchanger Green, about a directionless man in his thirties who...

Screen UK Star Of Tomorrow Moin Hussain will present his project Birchanger Green.

Screen Star of Tomorrow Moin Hussain, Egypt’s Mohamed Siam, North Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska and UK-Yemini filmmaker Sara Ishaq are among the 16 directors who will present projects at the 16th edition of the Atelier co-production meeting in May.

The initiative, run by Cannes Cinefondation, will take place within the framework of the Cannes Film Festival, from May 14-21.

A total of 15 projects from 15 countries will attend this year.

Hussain will present his debut feature project Birchanger Green, about a directionless man in his thirties who...

Hong Kong, 20 January 2020 – The Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) today announces 33 projects shortlisted for its 18th edition, featuring a host of top Asian filmmakers as well as 11 first-feature directors.

HAF18 will take place this year from 25 to 27 March at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre alongside the 24th Hong Kong Filmart.

HAF18 received a total of 338 submissions from 17 countries and regions – including, for the first time, a documentary project from Mexico. Some of the project highlights are as follow: Hong Kong: Hong Kong offers a strong lineup of seven locally-flavoured projects, including works by Pang Ho-cheung, Derek Chiu and Ng Kai-chung. Best known for his Love in a Puff trilogy, Pang presents The End, which recounts the story of a psychic medium who seeks help from a dead director for the ending of his unfinished script; Derek Chiu returns after winning the Osaka Asian Film Festival’s Grand Prize with No.

The lion’s share of this year’s Southeast Asian Fiction Film Lab (Seafic) cash has been handed to Philippine director Petersen Vargas for use toward a production he hopes will shed light on the lives of “youths on the margins of society.”

Vargas’ Some Nights I Feel Like Walking (working title) is described by the director as “a road movie about a rich teenage runaway and a group of street hustlers who both seek to find a place for themselves in the world” and is being produced by Alemberg Ang and Jade Castro. A cash prize ...

The lion’s share of this year’s Southeast Asian Fiction Film Lab (Seafic) cash has been handed to Philippine director Petersen Vargas for use toward a production he hopes will shed light on the lives of “youths on the margins of society.”

Vargas’ Some Nights I Feel Like Walking (working title) is described by the director as “a road movie about a rich teenage runaway and a group of street hustlers who both seek to find a place for themselves in the world” and is being produced by Alemberg Ang and Jade Castro. A cash prize ...

Indonesian project Autobiography and Skin Of Youth from Vietnam jointly won the Open Sea Fund Award

Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, to be directed by the Philippines’ Petersen Vargas, won the $15,000 Seafic Award at the conclusion of this year’s Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (Seafic).

Produced by Alemberg Ang and Jade Castro, the project follows a rich teenage runaway who joins a band of street hustlers on a road trip. The cash prize is sponsored by Thailand’s Purin Foundation.

Meanwhile, the Open Sea Fund Award, jointly sponsored by Vs Service and White Light Post, was shared by Autobiography,...

The Locarno Festival’s Open Doors platform dedicated to promoting cinema in areas where filmmaking is especially tough, has unveiled the 8 projects, directors, and producers from 7 countries in South-East Asia and Mongolia who will make the trek to Switzerland for networking and training opportunities.

The selected projects include “The Thonglor Kids” by Thai director Aditya Assarat, produced by Fran Borgia, who also produced last year’s Golden Leopard winner “A Land Imagined,” by Singapore’s Yeo Siew Hua (pictured).

Vietnamese director Chuyen Bui Thac, whose second feature “Adrift,” set in Hanoi, premiered at Venice in 2009, will be attending the Asian cinema incubator with his latest project “Glorious Ashes” centered on the hardships and love lives of three women in a poor coastal village.

Locarno’s Open Doors program this year is entering a new three-year cycle dedicated to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Mongolia.

The event’s co-production platform,...

Eight projects for the Hub, nine producers for the Lab.

Open Doors, the industry sidebar of Locarno Film Festival dedicated to Southeast Asian film, has selected eight projects for its Hub and nine upcoming producers to participate in its Lab for the 2019 edition.

The projects chosen for the Hub include The Thonglor Kids from Thai director Aditya Assarat, produced by Fran Borgia, who also produced last year’s Golden Leopard winner at Locarno, A Land Imagined.

Vietnamese director Chuyen Bui Thac, whose second feature Adrift premiered at Venice in 2009, will attend with his project Glorious Ashes.

Seven countries are represented across the eight projects,...

Ash Mayfair, the Vietnamese director whose first film “The Third Wife” rocked the Toronto, San Sebastian and Chicago festivals last year, will join Myanmar’s The Maw Naing (“The Monk”) in going back to school. They are among five young talents who will take part in the third edition of Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (Seafic), a pioneering script and development lab created for Southeast Asian filmmakers.

The year-long program is designed to strengthen the quality of feature-length fiction films from the region. It involves three lab sessions: first and second in Chiang Mai, and the final session, called Seafic Open House, in Bangkok, in November. A parallel producers’ lab, called SEAFICxPAS, is run jointly with Festival des 3 Continents’ Produire au Sud.

Mayfair will seek to develop her “Skin of Youth,” a drama about a couple running from criminals as they raise money for a sex change operation. The Maw...

Selection includes the latest projects by Ash Mayfair and The Maw Naing, and two first-time filmmakers from Indonesia and Vietnam.

The Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (Seafic) has announced five Southeast Asian projects selected for its third edition, including the latest projects by Ash Mayfair and The Maw Naing, and two first-time filmmakers from Indonesia and Vietnam.

Mayfair teams up again with The Third Wife producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc on Skin Of Youth, which is set in 1990s Vietnam about two youths who court the criminal underworld to find enough money for one of them to go for sex-change operation.

Petersen Vargas made a stunning debut feature with 2 Cool 2 Be 4Gotten, a film with a razor-sharp view at pubescent life as a young gay man. The film won best picture at the recently concluded Cinema One Originals Film Festival, and with it the very likely chance of a theatrical run abroad. It’s a personal favorite, something of a mesh between Pedro Almodóvar and Wong Kar-wai. If you take a look at the trailer here, you’ll get quickly what I mean. Vargas, an ardent advocate of the local Lgbtq community, has recently partnered with Team Magazine for a web-series, titled Hanging Out, reflecting the lives of gay millennials in Manila. Think: what Andrew Haigh was doing for ‘cisco in the two glorious seasons of...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...