In10city, the 10th edition of the QCinema International Film Festival, launches in 2022 with yet another remarkable roster that includes movies from the most prominent festivals from across the globe.
The festival, which is set to take place from November 17–26, 2022, will screen 58 films, including six short films production grantees. It will include three shorts programs and seven sections of full-length films. This year’s festival, in10City, will use a hybrid format with screenings in a few Makati and Quezon City theaters namely Gateway, Trinoma, Powerplant, Cinema 76, and SM North EDSA and VivaMax for online.
“It has grown bigger and stronger beyond our dreams and much sooner than our expectations. It is like the making of a film, QCinema 2022 growth has been a collaborative effort. While it started as a brainchild of mine 10 years ago, it took a whole city and the efforts of many sectors to propel it to what it is now, one of the country’s most formidable film festivals” says Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte.
Two outstanding European films with standout performances by Filipino actors will be screened at the festival, as was announced at a press conference on November 3rd.
The festival opens with Ruben Stlund’s Triangle of Sadness, a class satire that won the Palme d’Or and stars Dolly de Leon. The satirical black comedy centers on influencer couple Carl and Yaya, played by Harris Dickinson of The King’s Man and Charlbi Dean, respectively, who are asked to join a lavish cruise for the super-rich.
To The North, directed by Mihai Mincan and starring Soliman Cruz, is the closing film. Based on a true event, the movie follows Joel, a religious Filipino seaman, as he finds Dumitru, a Romanian stowaway, on a transatlantic voyage, hidden between some containers. Dumitru runs the risk of being tossed overboard if the Taiwanese officers in charge of the ship notice him. Joel chooses to conceal him as an expression of his thanks to God. A perilous game of cat and mouse will soon start.
Asian Next Wave, the primary competition section of QCinema 2022 that highlights up-and-coming filmmakers from Southeast Asia and East Asia with less than three features, has returned with seven submissions, including two Filipino films that are in competition. After a two-year break, the main competition returns in time for the festival’s tenth anniversary.
The selection includes the Japanese movie Plan 75 by Chie Hayakawa, which also won the Cannes Golden Palm Special Mention Award, the Singaporean Oscar entry Ajoomma by Shuming He, and another Cannes entry, the South Korean film Return to Seoul by Davy Chou.
The category also includes the Thai film Arnold is a Model Student by Sorayos Prapapan, which had its global premiere at Locarno, and the Indonesian debut Autobiography by Makbul Mubarak, who this year earned the FIPRESCI Prize in Venice.
The international premiere of Loy Arcenas’ Elehiya, which features the late iconic actress Cherie Gil in her final on-screen appearance, will take place at QCinema 2022. The award-winning director of the 2017 Philippine musical film Ang Larawan (The Portrait), who spoke with the media before the press conference, stated they were unaware that it would be Gil’s final film when they wrapped up production in 2018. He gushed about how much he enjoyed working with the late actress on set and how the moving movie features “one of Gil’s best performances.”
Elehiya, which was originally titled Mirador, follows the downward spiral of Dr. Celine de Miranda (played by Gil) as she attempts to put the pieces of a broken marriage together without having children.
The final film up for competition is the Filipino film “12 Weeks” by Anna Isabelle Matutina, winner of the NETPAC Award at the most recent Cinemalaya. In the coming-of-age movie 12 Weeks, Alice, a 40-year-old humanitarian worker, finds out she is pregnant shortly after splitting up with her much-younger lover. Eigenmann received a Best Actress nomination for the part, which she dedicated to her aunt Cherie Gil.
QCShorts is an additional competition category. A total of 350,000 pesos in production funds were given to the films competing in this category.
These films are Ang Pagliligtas sa Dalagang Bukid by Jaime Morados, BOLD EAGLE by Whammy Alcazaren, Luzonensis mula 7 hanggang 9 by Glenn Barit, Mga Tigre ng Infanta by Rocky De Guzman Morilla, Ngatta Naddaki y Nuang? (Why did the Carabao cross the Carayan?) by Austin Tan, and sa ilog na hindi nagtatapos by JT Trinidad.
In 1921, “Ang Pagliligtas sa Dalagang Bukid” took place. In the midst of a studio fire, 16-year-old Joaquin tries to salvage the film reel of the first movie he’s ever watched. It is Morados’ debut submission to QCinema.
The protagonist of “Bold Eagle” is Bold, an anonymous online sex worker who seeks approval from his cat while questioning his ability to be more than just a gorgeous face. In the 2020 in-person showing of Raya Martin’s film “Death of Nintendo,” Alcazaren received his first QCinema highlight. His debut film, “Colossal,” which served as his production thesis, won the Gawad Urian 2013 prize for best cinematography.
A “neanderthal” man named Luzonensis is preparing to depart for employment overseas in “Luzonensis mula 7 hanggang 9.” Hours before leaving, he learns that his passport is missing. They go back on their original route with his father to find it
A well-known name in QCinema is Glenn Barit, a director, sound designer, and composer from Cagayan. At QCinema’s 2019 Asian Next Wave Competition, his first movie, “Cleaners,” took home the audience choice, best picture, and best script awards.
Filmmaker Rocky Morilla’s “Mga Tigre ng Infanta” chronicles Katrina’s irrational quest to understand her grandmother’s missing grandmother’s mind. The story takes place in the vibrant town of Infanta, where many are reported to still practice superstition.
“Y Nuang? Ngatta Naddaki?” follows Oyo’s search for a carabao in his homeland of Cagayan before he eventually migrates to another nation, filled with flood memories and images of industrialization. Austin Tan is another filmmaker from Cagayan. His short films mostly tackle political and social topics through concepts dealing with memory and death.
Last but not least, Baby, a middle-aged transwoman, is the main character in JT Trinidad’s “Sa ilog na hindi nagtatapos,” which tells the narrative of four different people. As her own yearning intensifies in the capital of transitory relationships, she turns into a vehicle to fill their void. The deteriorating Pasig River and the area where an expressway is being built are the settings for the movie.
Exhibition Sections
The world’s most recognized directors are included in QCinema 2022 is carefully curated selection Screen International, whose distinctive characteristics make their critically acclaimed movies unquestionably their own.
Crimes Of The Future, the body horror master of Canada’s David Cronenberg, has its world premiere in the main competition at Cannes. Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO, which won the Jury Prize, is another entry from the Cannes competition. Isabelle Huppert joins the cast of this movie after just just traveling there. The film is also the Polish submission to the 95th Academy Awards.
With his most recent film, Walk Up, arthouse favorite Hang Sang-soo makes his QCinema 2022 debut. A well-known director from Costa Rica, Valentina Maurel, will also have a film in the festival. I Have Electric Dreams was honored at Locarno with honors for Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Director.
Holy Spider, the third feature film from Iranian filmmaker and screenwriter Ali Abbasi, will also be shown at QCinema. At the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, the movie will compete for the Palme d’Or. Zar Amir Ebrahimi received the festival’s Best Actress Award for it. Additionally, it was chosen as Denmark’s submission for the 95th Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category.
Corsage, a drama from Austrian director Marie Kreutzer, is also a choice of Screen International. The Un Certain Regard section of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival is where it had its world premiere.
French-language Belgian drama picture Close by Lukas Dhont also had its world premiere at Cannes to rave reviews and the Grand Prix. It is Belgium’s entry for the 95th Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category.
The New Horizon area of QCinema 2022 announces new directors and their critically appreciated new productions.
The section includes Saint Omer by Alice Diop, winner of the Venice Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and France’s entry for the 95th Academy Awards; Utama by Alejandro Loayza Grisi, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Bolivia’s entry; and Next Sohee by July Jung, the culmination of Cannes Critic’s Week.
There are also two German movies in this group. The zany fantasy movie Piaffe and the comedy The Ordinaries by Sophie Linnenbaum. In Locarno, Piaffe took home the Junior Jury International Award.
RainbowQC is one of QCinema’s most recognizable parts on this side of Southeast Asia.
Saim Sadiq’s Joyland won both the Queer Palm and the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes this year. It is both Pakistan’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar category and its first film to have a Cannes premiere.
The Japanese film Angry Son, directed by Kasho Iizuka, won the Grand Prix Award at the Osaka Asian Film Festival.
You Can Live Forever, co-directed by Canadians Mark Slutsky and Sarah Watts, as well as Alain Guiraudie’s seductive Stranger By The Lake, winner of the 2013 Cannes Un Certain Regard Best Director prize, are also included in the RainbowQC section. It was mentioned on several top ten lists of the year’s finest movies.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Billie and Emma, The Divide, and a shorts anthology called RainbowQC Shorts are other works in a parallel LGBT+ area that are sponsored by the French Embassy in Manila and have a like-minded topic.
The first film directed by a woman to win the Queer Palm at Cannes was Céline Sciamma’s 2019 French historical romance drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire. At Cannes, Sciamma also took up the prize for Best Screenplay.
One of the winners of QCinema 2018’s Circle competition is the film Billie and Emma. Cielo Aquino received the best supporting actress award, and the Gender Sensitivity Award was also won.
The Divide was awarded the 2021 Queer Palm.
#QCShorts 2019 film Isang Daa’t Isang Mariposa by Norvin delos Santos, #QCShorts 2021 Best Picture I get so sad sometimes by Trishtan Perez, #QCShorts 2021 silent film Alingas ng mga Kuliglig by Vahn Leinard Pascual, Dikit by Gabriela Serrano, and QCinema Asian Shorts film entry How to Die Young in Manila by Petersen
Three spine-tingling titles are included in the Midnight Series segment, another must-watch category.
Nocebo, a film by Lorcan Finnegan starring Chai Fonacier, is included in this section. She portrays a Filipino nurse who is familiar with folk medicine. The movie will increase Fonacier’s exposure abroad.
A supernatural suspense novel written in Spanish is titled Huesera by Michelle Garza Cervera. It made its Tribeca debut earlier this year and earned Cervera the award for Best New Narrative Director.
Last but not least, Kate Hudson and Jun Jong-seo star in British-Iranian director Ana Lily Amirpour’s latest cult hit, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, which is making a comeback to local theaters. A Girl Walks Home at Night, Amirpour’s atmospheric vampire/western debut film, which had its world premiere in QCinema’s 2014 issue, is the work for which she is best known.
Digitally Restored Classics
This section features newly restored versions of unforgettable films by two celebrated directors.
- Mike de Leon’s classic movie Itim (The Rites of May)
- Wong Kar-wai’s romantic drama In The Mood for Love
Advance Screenings
A new festival section that offers a first-look at exciting coming attractions is also being launched this year in partnership with Amazon Prime and Warner Brothers.
- Nanny, 2022
- Argentina,1985 by Santiago Mitre
- She Said by Maria Schrader
- Bones and All by Luca Guadagnino
Asian Shorts program
The Asian Shorts program, a curated program of must-see shorts in their regional premieres, also return this year to QCinema.
- Dancing Colors by M. Reza Fahriyansyah
- Lili Alone by Zou Jing
- Four Nights by Deepak Rauniyar
- The Headhunter’s Daughter by Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan
- The Water Murmurs by Story Chen
- Papaya by Timmy Harn
All movies will have theatrical showings in Gateway, Trinoma, Cinema 76, and SM North EDSA in Quezon City. Theatrical screenings cost P300 each ticket. This year, screenings for the QCinema will also be hosted in the Power Plant Mall in Rockwell, Makati, for individuals who do not reside in Quezon City.
This year, the film festival is using a hybrid setup, with online screenings for RainbowQC Shorts, QCShorts 2021, and QCShorts 2022 being done in collaboration with VivaMax. The online run will happen between November 22 and November 26, 2022. For each bundle of films, tickets will cost P299.
