by Simone Bardoni and Margherita Fontana
This year, Concorto explores Philippines’ cinema, offering insight into a complex, layered mosaic of social and cultural tensions that take place in the background of the overflowing and wild nature, as well as of buzzy and cruel metropolises. The seven short films selected provide an unprecedented glimpse into an emerging cinema that is capable of combining narrative urgency and visual power.
Radikals by Arvin Bellarmine takes us to the heart of youth culture, between rebellion and tradition. How to Die Young in Manila by Petersen Vargas focuses on the precariousness of queer identity in a violent and disillusioned urban context. With Junylin Has, Carlo Francisco Manatad reflects on the femininity and invisibility of sex workers in an ironic and piercing way. Animal Lovers by Aedrian Araojo is a tragicomic microcosm, a nativity scene revisited in an animist (or animalist?) way. The experimental animation It’s Raining Frogs Outside by Maria Estela Paiso is a hypnotic and claustrophobic reflection on eco-anxiety. E. Del Mundo’s Manong ng Pa-aling recalls the silent exertion of traditional fishing, transforming the seascape. Finally, Ang Ritwal by Alex Tiernan recreates a paradoxical and absurd visual parallelism, showing some of the human and spiritual contradictions that cross the social fabric of this large and multifaceted archipelago.
Films featured:
Radikals by Arvin Belarmino, Philippines, USA, 2024, 20′
Ampangabagat Nin Talakba Ha Likol (It’s raining frogs outside) by Maria Estela Paiso, Philippines, 2021, 14′
Junylin Has by Carlo Francisco Manatad, Philippines, 2018, 14′
Manong ng Pa-aling (Man of Pa-Aling) by E. Del Mundo, Philippines, USA, 2017, 15′
How to Die Young in Manila by Petersen Vargas, Philippines, 2020, 12′
Animal Lovers by Aedrian Araojo, Philippines, 2023, 17′
Ang Ritwal (The Ritual) by Alex Tiernan, Philippines, 2024, 7′