The pandemic may have kept us from enjoying world-class cinema like we used to, but QCinema 2020 is here to prove that distance has only brought us “closer than ever.”
For its seventh year, the QCinema International Film Festival has tapped movie ticketing platform, GMovies, and the newest digital streaming hub, UPSTREAM, to bring critically-acclaimed films from all over the world to one convenient site for Filipino cinephiles to soak in and enjoy.
This year, QCinema 2020, with the “A New Filmscape,” is featuring 20 award-winning local and international films across two festival programs from November 27 to December 6.
Festival Program 1 will kick off the festival on November 27 and will run until December 1. Then, Festival Program 2 will roll through from December 2 up until the festival’s closing on December 6. Details are as follows:
Festival Program 1 featured films
- Cleaners (2019), a coming-of-age film by Glenn Barit. (Best Film, QCinema 2019 Asian Next Wave Competition)
- Oda sa Wala (2018), a drama film by Dwein Baltazar. (Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Artistic Achievement in Cinematography, and Best Actress (Pokwang), QCinema 2018; QCinema 2018 Pylon Best Picture)
- Balangiga: Howling Wilderness (2017), a historical drama film in Waray by Khavn. (Best Actor (Justine Samson), Best Supporting Actor (Pio Del Rio), Best Director, and Best Picture, QCinema 2017; Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Picture, 66th FAMAS Awards; Jury Prize winner, 5th Bangkok ASEAN Film Festival)
- Babae at Baril (2019), a crime thriller film by Rae Red. (Best Actress (Janine Gutierrez) and Best Director QCinema 2019 Asian Next Wave Competition; Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Direction, Best Actress, and Best Picture, 43rd Gawad Urian Awards)
- Asian premiere of Genus, Pan (2020), a crime drama film by Lav Diaz. (Orizzonti Winner for Best Director, 2020 Venice International Film Festival)
- Southeast Asian Premiere of Song Without a Name (2019), a Peruvian drama film directed by Melissa León. (Best International Feature Film selection, 93rd Academy Awards)
- Southeast Asian premiere of Divine Love (2020), a Brazilian sci-fi drama film by Gabriel Mascaro.
- Philippine premiere of Rom (2019), a Vietnamese crime drama film by Trần Thanh Huy. (Best Film, 24th Busan International Film Festival New Currents Award)
- Philippine premiere of Suk Suk (2019), a Hong Kong romantic drama film by Ray Yeung. (Best Actor (Tai Bo) and Best Film, Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award)
- Philippine premiere of Corpus Christi (2019), a Polish drama film by Jan Komasa. (Best International Feature Film nominee, 92nd Academy Awards. Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor (Lukasz Simlat), Best Actor (Bartosz Bielenia), Best Supporting Actress (Eliza Rycembel), Best Actress (Aleksandra Konieczna), Best Director, and Best Film, Polish Academy Award)
Festival Program 2 featured films:
- Cleaners (2019)
- Oda sa Wala (2018)
- Balangiga: Howling Wilderness (2017)
- Babae at Baril (2019)
- World premiere of Midnight in a Perfect World (2020), a utopian horror-mystery film by Dodo Dayao.
- Asian premiere of Marygoround (2020), a Polish black comedy-drama film by Daria Woszek. (Best Actress (Grazyna Misiorowska), Best Director, Best Film, and Special Jury Mention, 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival)
- Asian premiere of End of the Century (2019), an Argentine romantic drama film by Lucio Castro. (Best Argentine Film, 2019 Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema)
- Southeast Asian premiere of True Mothers (2020), a Japanese drama film by Naomi Kawase. (Best International Feature Film selection, 93rd Academy Awards)
- Philippine premiere of Roh (2019), a Malaysian arthouse horror film by Emir Ezwan. (Best International Feature Film selection, 93rd Academy Awards)
- Philippine premiere of the digitally restored Mulholland Drive (2001), a neo-noir mystery film by David Lynch.
The festival will also formally open with a screening of the 2019 Academy Award Best Picture and 2019 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner, Parasite. This time, the film by award-winning South Korean director Bong Joon Ho will be screened in black-and-white.
Tickets are priced at PhP150 each and will be available for purchase through GMovies. QCinema Festival Bundles are also available at PhP750 each through the QCinema website. This includes a code valid for five access to films, and a free limited edition QCinema-branded merchandise.
