Quezon City marks Women’s Month with three powerful films at QCinema

 

In celebration of National Women’s Month, the QCinema International Film Festival is mounting a special series of screenings this March at Gateway Cineplex 18, bringing together three films that foreground women’s stories shaped by history, resistance, memory and identity.

An initiative of the QCinema International Film Festival, the program reflects Quezon City's continuing commitment as a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and a designated Creative City of Film. 

The Women’s Month lineup opens on March 4 at 6:00 p.m. with a by-invitation screening of Sisa, a 2025 Philippine historical thriller drama written, co-produced and directed by Jun Robles Lana. The film, set during the final years of the Philippine-American War, follows a woman driven to madness after witnessing a brutal massacre. 

Sisa stars Hilda Koronel in her comeback film after a 13-year hiatus, with a supporting cast that includes Eugene Domingo, Jennica Garcia, Tanya Gomez, Barbara Miguel, and Romnick Sarmenta. It had its world premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, where it competed in the Official Selection section. Its Philippine theatrical release is scheduled for the same date.

On March 11 at 4:00 p.m., QCinema presents a free screening of The First Women, a documentary directed by Adriana Yañez and sponsored by the Embassy of Brazil in Manila, in partnership with Instituto Guimarães Rosa. The film centers on a group of women now in their 60s who once formed the foundation of Brazil’s first women’s soccer team.

Closing the lineup on March 11 at 7:00 p.m. is The Little Sister, or La Petite Dernière, written and directed by Hafsia Herzi and presented with the support of the Embassy of France in Manila. Adapted from Fatima Daas’s novel The Last One, the coming-of-age drama follows Fatima, a young lesbian woman of Algerian descent in Paris, as she grapples with faith, family expectations and her emerging sense of self.

The film premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Queer Palm and the Best Actress prize. Tickets for the screening are priced at P200.

All screenings will be held at Gateway Cineplex 18 in Quezon City.

Last month, during Valentine’s Day, QCinema also celebrated National Arts Month with a free screening of select QCShorts at the Quezon Memorial Circle.