The Unreel guide to QCinema 2023

Happening on November 17 – 26, 2023, the Philippines’ premier independent film festivel returns to local screens.

FROM THE OUTSET, QCinema has been chasing one lofty goal into reality. Undeterred by its grand ambitions — the festival’s tagline is “one city to the world” — the fest has been gaining some renown as it decides to expand its programming beyond Filipino films. Now on its eleventh edition, the festival is the Philippines’ premier truly international film festival, curating for its in-competition categories a proper mix of voices from its native Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and so on.

This evolution in QCinema’s roster is brought in under their new competition banner, Asian Next Wave — a collection of eight exciting films from emerging Asian filmmaking visionaries. Jopy Arnaldo’s Gitling represents the Philippines alongside films like Tae-yang Kim’s Mimang, Patiparn Boontarig’s Solids by the Seashore, Amanda Nell Eu’s Tiger Stripes, and more.

Jump to Section:

Asian Next Wave

A showcase of some of the most exciting Asian films from this year, from emerging filmmakers at the onset of their career as storytellers.

QC Shorts

Shorts competition by Filipino filmmakers — produced by QCinema — in their world premieres.

A Catholic Schoolgirl

dir. Myra Angeline Soriaso

Abutan Man Tayo ng House Lights

dir. Apa Agbayani

Animal Lovers

dir. Aedrian Araojo

Microplastics

dir. Lino Balmes

Tamgohoy

dir. Roxlee

Tumatawa Umiiyak

dir. Che Tagyamon

QCSEA Shorts

Section for competing short films from Southeast Asian filmmakers, a new staple added to QCinema’s programming.

Basri and Salma in a Never-ending Comedy

dir. Khozy Rizal | 🇮🇩

Bouyant

dir. Toan Thanh Doan, Hoang-Phuc Nguyen-Le | 🇻🇳

Cross My Heart and Hope to Die

dir. Sam Manacsa | 🇵🇭

Dominion

dir. Bea Mariano | 🇵🇭

Hito

dir. Stephen Lopez | 🇵🇭

I Look into the Mirror and Repeat Myself

dir. Giselle Lin | 🇸🇬

Kung nga-a Conscious ang mga Alien sang ila Skincare

dir. Seth Andrew Blanca & Niño Maldecir | 🇵🇭

Mop

dir. Joon Fong Goh | 🇲🇾

The Altar

dir. Moe Myat May Zarchi | 🇲🇲

When You Left Me on That Boulevard

dir. Kayla Galang | 🇵🇭

Other Sections

Screen International

QCinema’s prestige collection of new titles in the global festival circuit. This year’s collection gathers Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist, and Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers (among others), alongside the festival’s opening film, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things.

  • Afire (dir. Christian Petzold | 🇩🇪)
  • All of Us Strangers (dir. Andrew Haigh | 🇺🇸 🇬🇧)
  • Critical Zone (dir. Ali Ahmadzadeh | 🇮🇶 🇩🇪)
  • Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (dir. Radu Jude | 🇷🇴 🇱🇺 🇫🇷 🇭🇷)
  • Evil Does Not Exist (dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi | 🇯🇵)
  • Fallen Leaves (dir. Aki Kaurismäki | 🇫🇮 🇩🇪)
  • Perfect Days (dir. Wim Wenders | 🇯🇵 🇩🇪)
  • Poor Things (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos | 🇮🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸)
  • Sweet Dreams (dir. Ena Sendijarević | 🇳🇱 🇷🇪 🇧🇪 🇮🇩 🇸🇪)
  • The Taste of Things (dir. Trần Anh Hùng | 🇫🇷)

Special Screenings

A collection of remarkable films having their Philippine premieres. This year’s collection includes Gaspar Noé’s Irrversible, Pedro Almodóvar’s double-(short) feature, Strange Way Of Life/The Human Voice, and Lav Diaz’s new film, Essential Truths of the Lake, among other titles. The collection also includes the festival’s closing film, Andrew Chen’s The Breaking Ice.

  • Daaaaaali! (dir. Quentin Dupieux | 🇫🇷)
  • Essential Truths of the Lake (dir. Lav Diaz | 🇵🇭 🇵🇹 🇸🇬 🇹🇼 🇨🇭 🇬🇧)
  • Foe (dir. Garth Davis | 🇺🇸 🇦🇺 🇬🇧)
  • Irreversible: The Straight Cut (dir. Gaspar Noé | 🇫🇷)
  • Karaoke (dir. Moshe Rosenthal | 🇮🇱)
  • Only the River Flows (dir. Shujun Wei | 🇨🇳)
  • Raging Grace (dir. Paris Zarcilla | 🇬🇧)
  • Strange Way of Life (dir. Pedro Almodóvar | 🇪🇸 🇫🇷)
  • The Breaking Ice (dir. Anthony Chen | 🇸🇬 🇨🇳)
  • The Human Voice (dir. Pedro Almodóvar | 🇪🇸 🇫🇷)

Rainbow QC

Rainbow QC is QCinema’s section showcasing “a spectrum of representation and diversity.

  • Mutt (dir. Vuk Lungulov-Klotz | 🇺🇸)
  • Passages (dir. Ira Sachs | 🇫🇷 🇩🇪)
  • Peter von Kant (dir. François Ozon | 🇫🇷 🇧🇪)
  • Woman Of… (dir. Michal Englert, Malgorzata Szumowska | 🇵🇱 🇸🇪)

QC Dox

QC Dox is “a selection of films that seek to document some slice of reality, assembling footage to reach a greater truth.”

  • Divine Factory (dir. Joseph Mangan | 🇵🇭 🇹🇼 🇺🇸)
  • National Anarchist: Lino Brocka (dir. Khavn | 🇵🇭)
  • Nowhere Near (dir. Miko Revereza | 🇵🇭)

New Horizons

New Horizons hopes to herald “new voices in a platform for debut films.”

  • City of Wind (dir. Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir | 🇶🇦 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 🇵🇹 🇲🇳 🇫🇷)
  • Foremost by Night (dir. Víctor Iriarte | 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 🇫🇷)
  • Scrapper (dir. Charlotte Regan | 🇬🇧)
  • Through the Night (dir. Delphine Girard | 🇧🇪 🇫🇷 🇨🇦)
  • Women from Rote Island (dir. Jeremias Nyangoen | 🇮🇩)

Restored Classics

QCinema’s section for “revisiting unforgettable classics.”

  • A Clockwork Orange (dir. Stanley Kubrick | 🇺🇸 🇬🇧)
  • Chungking Express (dir. Kar-Wai Wong | 🇭🇰)
  • Enter the Dragon (dir. Robert Clouse | 🇺🇸 🇭🇰)
  • Fallen Angels (dir. Kar-Wai Wong | 🇭🇰)

Before Midnight

Before Midnight is QCinema’s section collecting genre films screened as “last full shows for chills and thrills.”

  • Femme (dir. Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping | 🇬🇧)
  • Hungry Ghost Diner (dir. We Jun Cho | 🇲🇾)
  • Red Rooms (dir. Pascal Plante | 🇨🇦)
  • River (dir. Junta Yamaguchi | 🇯🇵)

Screening Schedule

QCinema screenings happen in select cinemas across the metro. Check out the full schedule* after the bump.

*Schedule may change without notice. For real-time updates, visit QCinema’s Facebook Page.

november, 2023

Section

Event Location

LEGEND: 💬 With Q&A | 🆓 Free Screening | 📜 By Invitation Only | 🌟 Gala Night