Marathon Watching Cinemalaya 2025

Cinemalaya entries present Filipino stories that appeal to progressive filmgoers.

Stories were collected from entries screened using a process.

Produced and interpreted into a film of either full length or shorts.

Each entry fills out a variety of themes.

Viewed for their tale, appreciated, and evaluated for their production value.

Finally as a festival goer, valued for its personal impact and the insights realized.

What did not I know? What had been validated? What was reinforced?

Clusters guided me in ranking.

Something Lost:

• Drive: Raging. Hydra. Open Endings. Please Keep Copy
• Dignity: Warla. 24H. Radikals. Blooms. Ocean. Paglilitis. Tugbaw. Ascension
• Land: Bloom. Republic. Water Sports
• Justice: Paglilitis. Republic
• Family: Child. Padamlagan
• History: Cinemartyrs. Ocean

Gained:

• Hope: Hydra. Bloom
• Respect: Warla. Child. Objects
• Self: Open Endings. Raging. Hydra. Best Left. Hasang. Please Keep Copy
• History: Cinemartyrs. Figat
• Fatherhood: Padamlagan. Child

Between gained and lost is the denouncement dramatised

Based on the synopses for the 10 full-length and 10 short films competing in Cinemalaya 2025, several recurring and powerful thematic clusters can be identified.

These clusters reflect the festival's theme, "Layag sa Alon, Hangin, at Unos" (To sail through waves, wind, and storms), highlighting resilience, social struggle, and evolving identities in the Philippines.

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Cluster 1: Political and Historical Reckoning, Truth vs. Disinformation

These films directly address critical socio-political issues, historical atrocities, the struggle for land and rights, and the current battle against disinformation.

1. Habang Nilalamon ng Hydra ang Kasaysayan (As the Hydra Devours History). Disinformation, erosion of truth/memory, post-political defeat struggle.
2. Bloom Where You Are Planted. Land rights activists, red-tagging, volatile notions of home, and government pursuit.
3. Cinemartyrs. Recreating forgotten historical massacres, angry spirits, and the peril of truth-telling
4. Padamlagan (Night Light). Colgante Bridge collapse and the declaration of Martial Law (Historical/Political backdrop).
5. Republika ng Pipolipinas (Republic of Pipolipinas). Farmer protests government land grab by building a micronation (Act of political defiance)
6. Please Keep This Copy. High school students navigating control and repression in an elite all-boys school (Youth resistance to authority)

Cluster 2: Marginalized Identities, Belonging, and LGBTQIA+ Narratives

This cluster focuses on the experiences of marginalized groups, the search for acceptance and family, and bold repress entations of queer identity.

1. Warla. Transgender woman Kitkat find ing family in a gang that kidnaps men for gender-affirming surgeries (Trans identity, survival, belonging)
2. Open Endings. Four queer women (exes-turned-best-friends) navigating adulthood and chosen family (Sapphic relationships, love, and friendship)
3. Raging. A young man's quest for truth and justice after being raped by a peer (Sexual abuse, isolation, confronting the abuser)
4. Water Sports . Two deeply in love sad boys preparing to survive a world devastated by climate change (Gay male relationship, love as survival)
5. I'm Best Left Inside My Head. Golden boy adopted by gay philanthropists reunites with friends from the orphanage (Identity, adoption, found family)
6. The Next 24 Hours. Young woman navigating a cold, bureaucratic system after sexual assault (Victim's struggle for justice, systemic trauma)
7. Paglilitis (A Trial). Former executive assistant filing a sexual harassment case against a rich and powerful boss (Sexual harassment, workplace abuse, legal battle for justice)

Cluster 3: Folkloric, Mythic, and Fantastical Elements

These entries incorporate elements of magic realism, fantasy, and folklore to explore deeper themes of culture, environment, and personal transformation.

1. Hasang (Gills). Young boy witnesses his grandmother slowly transforming into a tilapia (Body transformation, folklore, family mystery)
2. Kay Basta Angkarabo Yay Bagay Ibat ha Langit (Objects Do Not Randomly Fall from the Sky). Young girl turns into a fish and recounts the effects of China's territorial aggression on fisherfolk (Environmental struggle, transformation, folklore)
3. Child No. 82 (Son of Boy Kana). Student must prove he is the 82nd child of a deceased action-fantasy movie star (Paternity, legacy, fantasy element in a dramedy setup)

Cluster 4: Personal Struggle, Labor, and Psychological Toll

This final group focuses on individual characters coping with systemic pressures, economic hardship, and the psychological impact of their daily lives or past trauma.

1. Ascension from the Office Cubicle. Exploited call center agent's obsession with a TV host as an escape from monotony/exploitation (Labor, workplace oppression, escapism)
2. Kung Tugnaw Ang Kaidalman Sang Lawod. Debt-stricken seafarer senses an unknown presence after taking a superior's help (Debt, exploitation, psychological burden)
3. Figat (Tomorrow). Young Kalinga girl brings a handmade instrument to class to inspire a return to cultural pride (Technology vs. Tradition, cultural identity).
4. Radikals. A young dancer's disastrous performance leads to bizarre events (Self-doubt, public embarrassment, and personal transformation/crisis)

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