The premieres of several new Filipino features and shorts for its 14th edition are a testament to QCinema’s commitment to celebrate not just the best and newest titles in world cinema but the Philippines’ cinematic heritage and the freshest crop of local gems.
Headlining this year’s festival is the world premiere of its opening film, Ella Arcangel: Awit ng Pangil at Kuko (Ella Arcangel: Ballad of Tooth and Claw), directed by Mervin Malonzo.
Based on the graphic novel series Ella Arcangel by Julius Villanueva, Malonzo’s feature debut revolves around the titular young mambabarang who uses her supernatural abilities to fight both humans and mythical creatures to protect her community.
Co-produced by GMA Pictures and featuring Bianca Umali as the voice of Ella, this highly anticipated adaptation is the only animated feature in Asian Next Wave—QCinema’s flagship competition for emerging Asian auteurs—and the section’s sole Filipino entry. The film was also a recipient of the Philippines Co-production Grant at the 2023 QCinema Project Market.
Another award-winning project at the 2023 QCinema Project Market, The Remotes sees experimental filmmaker John Torres bring his maverick style to narrative filmmaking in a dystopian tale.
Set on an island where a driving app’s voice controls human avatars, the film follows two estranged sisters with supernatural abilities as they race to find out if the voice belongs to their dead mother. Starring Alchris Galura, Gabby Padilla, Julia Richards, and Enchong Dee, The Remotes premiered in the Wavelengths section of the Toronto International Film Festival and makes its Asian premiere in QCinema’s QC Selects section.
Renowned auteur Lav Diaz, a well-loved fixture in QCinema’s annual line-ups, returns with two remarkable works from different periods of his career.
His latest work, Makikiraan Po (Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors), recently premiered out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival, where it received the Brian Award (Premio Brian). Set during the Spanish colonial period, the historical drama reflects Diaz’s distinctive approach to stories of Philippine history, violence, and oppression. Featuring an ensemble cast including Bart Guingona, Ronnie Lazaro, Isabel Sandoval, Yul Servo, Christian Bables, Bong Cabrera, Rafa Siguion-Reyna, and Amado Arjay Babon, the film makes its Southeast Asian premiere in the Screen International section.
Meanwhile, Diaz’s landmark neo-noir crime drama Batang West Side returns to the big screen in its complete 301-minute version as part of the Rediscovery section. Starring Yul Servo, Joel Torre, Gloria Diaz, and Angel Aquino, the film won Best Asian Feature Film at the 2002 Singapore International Film Festival and was later named Best Film of the Decade at the 2011 Gawad Urian Awards.
Taking the spotlight in the Rediscovery section is a tribute to multi-hyphenated artist, Pete Lacaba, whose two renowned classics from the country’s “second golden age of cinema” get their due recognition on the QCinema big screen.
One of the key figures in the anti-Marcos protests of the 1970s known as the First Quarter Storm, Lacaba is remembered for his poem Prometheus Unbound and his book Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage, both significant works documenting the period’s political dissent. QCinema honors Lacaba for his contributions to two recently restored classics, Jaguar and Sister Stella L.
Jaguar, the first Filipino film selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s main competition in 1980, was directed by National Artist for Film Lino Brocka, and the script was co-written by another National Artist Ricky Lee and Lacaba.
It tells the story of a security guard who becomes entangled in crime while protecting a wealthy playboy, confronting moral dilemmas and tragic consequences amid class disparity and the destructive pursuit of fame. This 4K restoration was made possible by the Philippine Film Archive, Cite de Memoire and the Film Development Council of the Philippines.
Sister Stella L., directed by Mike de Leon and written by Pete Lacaba, is also part of the FDCP’s 4K restoration program. The restoration, undertaken by L’Immagine Ritrovato in partnership with Regal Entertainment, presents the integral version of the film, including previously deleted scenes that were censored during its original 1984 release. This classic tale of a nun’s political awakening premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1985 and won the Urian Award for Best Picture that same year.
These two restored classics certainly reintroduce Lacaba’s enduring contributions as seminal milestones in Filipino cinema to a whole new generation. These two classic restorations, co-presented by the Film Academy of the Philippines, will have free admission screenings.
Also returning under Rediscovery is Victor Villanueva’s beloved black comedy road film Patay na si Hesus, celebrating its 10th anniversary. Written by Fatrick Tabada and Moira Lang, the film received the QCinema production grant in 2016 and went on to win the festival’s Audience Choice and Gender Sensitivity Awards. Top-billed by the late Jaclyn Jose, it follows a mother and her family as they embark on an unforgettable journey to Dumaguete after learning of her estranged husband’s death.
Continuing its commitment to discovering and championing emerging filmmakers, QCinema also welcomes two feature debuts to its QC Selects section. Directed by Bebe Go and produced by Martika Ramirez Escobar, 11 made its world premiere in the Breakout Features section of the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival. Starring Gabby Padilla, the autobiographical and improvisational independent feature follows a filmmaker who retreats to La Union amid a pandemic that has derailed the production of her latest film, forcing her to confront her creative anxieties and personal insecurities.
Meanwhile, P. R. Monencillo Patindol’s i grew an inch when my father died makes its QCinema debut, winning the NETPAC Award at the 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it premiered in the Bright Future section. Set in a riverside village in Leyte, the film examines grief, friendship and inherited violence through the story of two brothers struggling to move on from the loss of their abusive father.
With this year’s theme, Genre’teurs, a portmanteau of “genre” and “auteur,” the festival looks at films that work within recognizable genres while reflecting the personal style, perspective, and creative choices of their directors.
The theme takes center stage in Before Midnight, QCinema’s section dedicated to bold, adventurous, and boundary-pushing genre cinema from some of the world’s most exciting emerging and established auteurs.
Among the highlights is Isabel Sandoval’s Moonglow, which makes its Philippine homecoming following its world premiere in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Directed by and starring Sandoval alongside Arjo Atayde, the atmospheric neo-noir unfolds in 1970s Manila. It follows a police officer who commits a robbery, only to be assigned to investigate her own crime alongside a former lover.
Documentary filmmaking also takes on diverse and unconventional forms in Dokyu Days, which features two distinctive works.
Elisa Gómez Alvarez’s To the Moon and Back makes its Asian premiere after its world premiere at Visions du Réel. Co-produced by Gale Osorio of the Binisaya Movement Inc., the documentary follows two young scientists, Ilyasse from Morocco and Pauline from the Philippines, as they pursue their dreams of space exploration through intensive astronaut simulations in Switzerland while dealing with gender bias, colonial legacies, and the politics of space.
Meanwhile, avant-garde director Khavn dela Cruz examines the legacy of the late National Artist for Film Ishmael Bernal in Bomba Bernal, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2025, where his experimental works are regularly featured. Interspersed with found footage of bomba films from the 70s in conversation with the writing of National Artist Ishmael Bernal, this video essay offers a provocative and humorous satire of the genre as well as homage to Bernal as a Filipino auteur.
The 14th QCinema International Film Festival runs from November 13 to 22, 2026, with screenings at Gateway Cineplex 18, Robinsons Movieworld Galleria, Ayala Malls TriNoma, Fisher Box Office, and SM Cinema — SM City Fairview. Tickets are available at a discounted price of PHP 200.
For more information, visit qcinema.ph or follow QCinema on social media at @qcinemaph.
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