Manila leg of 11th Bakunawa Fest commences at Centro de Turismo Intramuros

Edusentro | Manila leg of 11th Bakunawa Fest commences at Centro de Turismo Intramuros | The 11th Bakunawa Fest launched the first part of its Manila leg on August 29, 2025, at the Centro de Turismo Intramuros.

Presented by E Unlimited, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts – Sentro Rizal International Cultural Affairs Office, the UP Film Institute, and the Negros Museum, Bakunawa Fest is the Philippines’ first fantastic and genre film festival. Entirely volunteer-driven, it gathers filmmakers and artists dedicated to speculative storytelling. The festival takes its name from the Bakunawa, a mythical creature in Philippine folklore believed to devour moons—a fitting symbol for a festival celebrating the strange, surreal, and sublime.

The festival opened with the Southeast Asian premiere of the animated feature Clarice’s Dream (2023) by Fernando Gutierrez and Guto Bicalho of Brazil—a luminous and enchanting work that set a whimsical tone for the day.

Following the morning festivities, the afternoon showcased eight (8) films from across the globe under the theme ‘Howls Beyond a Muted Soundscape.’ The featured films include ‘Old World’ (2024) by Roland Cartagena from the Philippines, ‘Master-piece | Karya’ (2024) by Afiq Affendi from Malaysia, ‘At the End of the Thread | Hariaren Amaieran’ (2025) by Aitor Molina from Spain, ‘The Christ and the Skull | El Cristo de la calavera’ (2023) by Chrus Lara (2023) from Spain, ‘Tigre i Tiger’ (2024) by Maria Victoria Sanchez Lara from Mexico, ‘Sewing Love’ (2024) by Xu Yuan from Jaoan, ‘The Story of my Meatlife | 肉にまつわる日常の話’ (2024) by Ishikawa Mai from Japan, and ‘Sound from the Kitchen’ (2024) by Lee Phongsavanh from Laos.

The final screening block carried the dual themes “Lore of Folk, Lure the Light” and “Gasping for the Unseen.” These eight (8) films explored horror, drama, and folklore with distinctive cultural lenses. The featured films are ‘Radikals’ (2024) by Arvin Belarmino from the Philippines, ‘The Rubber Tappers | រឿង៖ អ្នកចៀរជ័រ’ (2024) by Rotha Moeng from Cambodia, ‘The Shadow of Dawn | Eha Vari’ (2024) by Olga Stalev, ‘The Dreamcatcher | El Atrapasueños’ (2024) by Patrikios Alum from Spain, ‘Isang Gabing Nawala ang Diyos’ (2024) by Jose Miguel Garcia from the Philippines, ‘Diving for Air’ (2024) by Tang Kang Sheng from Singapore, ‘Caraingin’ (2025) by Edgar Allan Reyes from the Philippines, and ‘The Night is Alive’ (2024) by Vincent Ibut from the Philippines.