Philippine cinema’s brightest unveil latest works at Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival mediacon

The Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival 2026 recently presented the 26 participating original films and their extraordinarily talented makers at a lively media conference held at Quantum Skyview in Gateway Mall 2, Araneta City.

Alongside seasoned directors and actors joining this year’s filmfest are stoked-up aspirants and brave auteurs seeking to make a name in the industry through a diverse mix of movie genres.

Hosted by TV personality Migs Almendras, the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival mediacon served to bring excited festival participants within reach of their multi-generation audience. On stage, the artists spoke with passion about their projects while providing attendees with glimpses into this year’s films.

“Every film in this year’s CinePanalo carries the passion of its creators,” says Ivy-Hayagan Piedad, festival chair of Puregold CinePanalo. “Giving these stories a platform where audiences can experience and celebrate them is our way of supporting Filipino artistry and contributing to the continued growth of Philippine cinema.”

PUREGOLD CINEPANALO FULL-LENGTH CATEGORY

• “Apol of My Ai”
• Director: Thop Nazareno
• Starring: Zanjoe Marudo, Zion Cruz, and Rochelle Pangilinan

Bata lang si Apol pero binata na ang tingin niya sa kaniyang sarili. Masusubok ang kaniyang pagbibinata nang ma-inlove siya sa kaniyang choir teacher, at nang gumawa ang kaniyang tatay Poli ng isang desisyon na maglalayo sa kanilang loob. Kaya ba silang hilumin at muling paglapitin ng musika?

• “Beast”
• Director: Lawrence Fajardo
• Starring: John Arcilla

After a final harvest forced upon him by the landlord, a farmer and his loyal carabao embark on a magical road trip to Manila, chasing the ghost of a niece the years stole from him.

• “Mono No Aware”
• Director: BC Amparado
• Starring: Juan Karlos Labajo and Perry Dizon

In a quiet apartment in Japan, a Filipino kodokushi cleaner meets an elderly widower who asks him for one final favor before he dies. What begins as a promise becomes a quiet story of grief, family, and accepting life’s impermanence.

• “Multwoh (Patay Na Patay Sa’yo)”
• Director: Rodina Singh
• Starring: Sassa Gurl and Joao Constancia

When a college queer dies suddenly in their dorm, they return as a ghost—not to seek revenge, but to say the one thing they never found the courage to say in life: “I love you.” A haunting, hilarious, and tender story about fear, desire, and the kind of love that refuses to die.

• “Patay Gutom”
• Directors: Carl Papa and Ian Pangilinan
• Starring: Khalil Ramos, Ian Pangilinan, Agot Isidro, and Cris Villanueva

The story follows a grumpy shut-in whose third eye is accidentally opened after eating an offering meant for a charming but lonely ghost. Now bound together, they discover family secrets, shared heartaches, and a love that blurs the line between life and the afterlife.

• “Stuck on You”
• Director: Mikko Baldoza
• Starring: Xyriel Manabat and River Joseph

A heartbroken manicurista accidentally takes on a hitman’s job, leading her to a deadly conspiracy where she must choose between saving her family or killing the man of her dreams.

• “Wantawsan”
• Director: Joseph Abello
• Starring: Joross Gamboa, Rita Daniela, and Zion Cruz

A cash-strapped father receives money from the newly elected mayor he supported, but when he sets out to buy food for his son’s birthday that day, he’s thrust into a comical adventure that tests his wit and his values.

PUREGOLD CINEPANALO STUDENT SHORTS CATEGORY

SET A

• “Starfish”
• Director: John Clite Apolinar
• Starring: VR Relosa, Nour Hooshmand, Jake Ulan, Floyd Tena, and Dads Valencia

Forced to return to his provincial hometown, a male sex worker confronts his estranged father, sister, and a town where oppression wears a more familiar face.

• “Kun Hain, Bisan Diin. (Anywhere and Everywhere)”
• Director: Jomarie Reyes
• Starring: Pau Baluyan, Carla Zarcal, and Anton Nolasco

A young lawyer returns to Samar to look for her estranged activist mother before her wedding.

• “Kanibal”
• Director: Michael Baylon
• Starring: Rowen Jean Ledesma, Roselle Lao, and Ma. Lourdes Maculada

Sa palengkeng hindi maiwasan ang pagbabago, kasabay nito na magbabago ang paniniwala at katawan ni Lea.

• “Sa Mga Nagdaan at Lumipas”
• Director: Ezaldea Carla Fernandez
• Starring: Darelle Tiu, Aly Torres, and Karla Dipasupil

Ella, a queer archivist in mourning, reminisced about her lover by preserving a historical video documenting the first Pride March in the Philippines in 1994, in which they are both featured.

• “Limlim”
• Director: Samantha Beatriz Acoja Palaje
• Starring: Zoey Madison Presentacion Lim and Angela Salga

A ten-year-old girl and her mother move into seclusion at an old chicken farm, where they are forced to confront their grief while starting a new life.

SET B

• “Alumahan”
• Director: Christian Melvin M. Arejola
• Starring: Don Rishmond Cerbito, Zoey Madison Lim, and Jeremy Mayores

 A small provincial fishing town, 13-year-old Unyok, a grieving fish port helper bullied by his peers, seeks to belong in a violent youth gang and faces a brutal initiation rite.

• “When Heaven Inched Towards Earth”
• Director: Vinh Marco
• Starring: André Miguel and Kaleb Ong

In a Catholic high school in Bulacan, a farm boy’s bond with a sacristan forces him to grapple with faith, shame, and the space between heaven and earth.

• “No Mad is an Island”
• Director: Carl Geronimo
• Cast: Arjhay Mangulabnan and Vic Romano

In a vibrant fishing town, Matmat dreams of dancing like a fish, yet the world keeps casting nets around him.

• “Tingi”
• Director: Rowan De Aro
• Starring: Jero Andrey Marcelino and Evangeline Argete Gigante

Inside a neighborhood sari-sari store where every transaction tells a story, a graduating student quietly saves every coin for college until an unexpected turn challenges the future he has carefully built.

• “Ang Huling Banlaw ni Susan”
• Director: Hezekiah M. Estorque
• Starring: Jonalyn Mateo, Ian Laczi, Chayl Flores, and Jeffrey James

A Filipina labandera’s vivid fantasies slowly take over her reality, exposing the hidden cost of surviving in a broken system.

SET C

• “Pulis Dunggab”
• Director: Maxine Dela Bajan
• Starring: Van Jordan Gacayan, Elj Seth Tababa, and Richel Ann Basiga

While playing his favorite game of Pulis Dunggab, 9-year-old Dongkoy stumbles into an encounter that transforms childhood make-believe into something all too real.

• “The Sound of K”
• Director: Jay Gabriel A. Cañada
• Starring: Jay Gabriel A. Cañada

A young boy burdened by the fear of speaking discovers that finding his voice may require confronting the very sound he’s spent his life avoiding.

• “Nakabinbin”
• Director: Carlo Gula
• Starring: Soliman V. Cruz

A widowed father must secure a death certificate to bury his daughter, only to learn that without proof she was ever born, the law leaves him no choice but to break it.

• “Nang Matakasan ang Tagay”
• Director: Giancarlo Santiago
• Starring: Chino Alfonso and Jovic Gabriel Cardano

On the eve of his departure, a seaman drifts between a farewell drinking session with his friends and quiet moments with his son, until the tension between machismo and tenderness pushes him toward a reckoning he can no longer postpone.

SET D

• “Teks Battle: Shoot Pati Pato!”
• Director: John Russel Capule
• Starring: Trisha Nicole Corpus, Kenneth Mendoza, Rhandylle Marius Obra, and Samantha Gleo

In a small barangay where a children’s game of teks reflects real power, Maya challenges Rod, the reigning champion turned tyrant, in a teks battle that could change the fate of their community.

• “Kapag Tapos na ang Umpukan”
• Director: Justine Lee Estinor
• Starring: Oz Kenshin Rodas

A young man trapped between family obligation and personal ambition finds himself at a crossroads when the rituals of lambanog-making and a night of celebration force him to confront the courage he has long been stalling.

• “12 Shots”
• Director: Minnesota Flores
• Starring: Nor Domingo, Kyrie Samodio, and Ethan King

In a dying Manila photo studio, a teenage apprentice inherits her mentor’s vintage camera and his penchant for the past—until a debt turns deadly, and the only mercy left is to walk the hours back to where it began.

• “Bumtak Sara ti Nuangen (The Carabao’s Horns Have Cracked)”
• Director: Lloyd Pereira
• Starring: Belle Francisco and Riya Miranda

A young woman determined to find her mother is about to become their town’s first OFW, sending the townsfolk into a frenzy of over-the-top reactions.

• “Miss Intrams”
• Director: Henri Marie C. Belimac
• Starring: Mariella Cuerpo, Mika Hamajo, and Diana Palma

A queer transmasc college student enters the campus Miss Intramurals pageant not to win, but to understand: is this who she is? Or is this the farewell to who she was?

The Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival runs from September 23 to October 4 at Gateway Cineplex 18, TriNoma, Fairview Terraces, Ayala Malls Feliz, Ayala Malls Circuit, Ayala Malls Manila Bay and Market! Market!

Tickets are priced at ₱250 regular and ₱200 discounted. While a ₱2,000 festival pass gives moviegoers a way to take on the entire lineup. PWDs, senior citizens, students, national athletes and Aling Puring and Perks cardholders qualify for discounted tickets.

Festival passes will be available at the Gateway Cineplex 18 beginning September 22, and also TriNoma starting September 23.

The Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival 2026 is sponsored by Alaska, Angel, Argentina, Ariel, Bingo, Birch Tree Fortified, Bear Brand, C2, Century Tuna, Champion, Chuckie, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Cream Silk, Datu Puti, Downy, GoodNom Fresh, Great Taste, Del Monte, Jack ‘N Jill, Knorr, Lucky Me!, Maggi, Magnolia Real Mayonnaise, Milo, Monde, MY San, Nestea, Nissin, Nivea, Palmolive Naturals, Pantene, Purefoods, Rebisco, Royal, Safeguard, Sprite, Surf, Wilkins, and Zonrox.