The best Filipino movie posters don’t get enough glory.
You can’t detach from the defiant features of the film poster for Ishmael Bernal’s City After Dark from its provocative themes. The intrigue of that still of one of the perfect moments from Raymond Red’s Anino is unforgettable. The use of negative space and unconventional framing in the poster for Chito S. Roño’s Signal Rock? Absolutely genius.
Though created first and foremost as marketing collateral, film posters are as much an art as it is marketing science. And by failing to highlight these works, much is lost from the experience of cinema.
That inspires today’s post, which lists some of the best Filipino movie posters of all time. Note that this is a running list, meaning it’s ever-expanding and ever-changing.
The best Filipino movie posters of all time
A quick sidebar: some of the posters featured in this list are alternate posters, meaning they are not used as the primary collateral in marketing the films. There are also reissues, particularly in films that are restored and re-released for modern audiences, such as Insiang.
Kalayaan
Nuwebe
Violator
Distance
Ibulong Mo Sa Hangin
Itim
Dagitab
Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan
Ang Nawawala
Batch ’81
Angustia
The Guerilla is a Poet
Blue Bustamante
Smaller and Smaller Circles
Respeto
Nabubulok
Signal Rock
Sister Stella L
Never Tear Us Apart (aka Fisting)
A Short History of a Few Bad Things
City After Dark
Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus
Sta. Nina
Perfumed Nightmare
Never Not Love You
Independencia
Balangiga
Double Twisting, Double Back
Mondo Manila
Debosyon
Sana Dati
Hospicio
Bang Bang Alley
Siglo ng Pagluluwal
Anino
Asuang
The Road
Terror Is A Man
Insiang
Bukas na Lang Sapagkat Gabi Na
Kapatiran
For Your Height Only
Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang
Delia & Sammy
Ruined Heart
