QCinema 2023

International Film Festival

November 17 – 26, 2023

Cinema Partners:

Gateway and Ali Mall Cineplex
Robinsons Magnolia
U.P. Town Center
Power Plant Mall
Shangri-La Plaza

QCinema is the official film festival of Quezon City, the City of the Stars.

Program

Asian Next Wave Competition

A showcase of some of the most exciting Asian films from this year, from emerging filmmakers at the onset of their career as storytellers.

Abang Adik
Lay Jin Ong
Malaysia

Gitling
Jopy Arnaldo
Philippines

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Thien An Pham
Vietnam, France, Singapore, Spain

Last Shadow at First Light
Nicole Midori Woodford
Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Slovenia

Love is a Gun
Hong-Chi Lee
Taiwan, Hong Kong

Mimang
Taeyang Kim
South Korea

Solids by the Seashore
Patiparn Boontarig
Thailand

Tiger Stripes
Amanda Nell Eu
Malaysia, Taiwan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Qatar, Indonesia

QCShorts Competition

Shorts competition by Filipino filmmakers, produced by QCinema, in their world premieres

A Catholic School Girl
Myra Angeline Soriaso
Philippines

Abutan Man Tayo ng House Lights
Apa Agbayani
Philippines

Animal Lovers
Aedrian Araojo
Philippines

Microplastics
Lino Balmes
Philippines

Tamgohoy
Roxlee
Philippines

Tumatawa, Umiiyak
Che Tagyamon
Philippines

QCSEA Shorts Competition

QCSEA – QCinema Southeast Asian Shorts Competition

Basri and Salma in a Never-ending Comedy
Khozy Rizal
Indonesia

Buoyant
Toan Thanh Doan & Hoang-Phuc Nguyen-Le
Vietnam

Cross My Heart and Hope To Die
Sam Manacsa
Philippines

Dominion
Bea Mariano
Philippines

Hito
Stephen Lopez
Philippines

I Look into the Mirror and Repeat to Myself
Giselle Lin
Singapore

Kung nga-a Conscious ang mga Alien sang ila Skincare
Seth Andrew Blanca & Niño Maldecir
Philippines

Mop
Joon Fong Goh
Malaysia

The Altar
Moe Myat May Zarchi
Myanmar

When You Left Me on That Boulevard
Kayla Galang
Philippines

Screen International

A prestige collection of new festival titles from around the globe

Afire
Christian Petzold
Germany

All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh
United Kingdom, United States

Critical Zone
Ali Ahmadzadeh
Iran, Germany

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Radu Jude
Romania, Luxembourg, France, Croatia

Evil Does not Exist
Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Japan

Fallen Leaves
Aki Kaurismäki
Finland, Germany

Perfect Days
Wim Wenders
Japan, Germany

Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos
Ireland, United Kingdom, United States

Sweet Dreams
Ena Sendijarević
Netherlands, Reunion, Indonesia, Sweden

The Taste of Things
Trần Anh Hùng
France

Special Screenings

A remarkable showcase for their Philippine premieres

Essential Truths of the Lake
Lav Diaz
Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Irreversible: Straight Cut
Gaspar Noé
France

Karaoke
Moshe Rosenthal
Israel

Only the River Flows
Shujun Wei
China

Raging Grace
Paris Zarcilla
United Kingdom

Strange Way of Life / The Human Voice
Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, France

The Breaking Ice
Anthony Chen
China, Singapore

RainbowQC

A spectrum for representation and diversity

Mutt
Vuk Lungulov-Klotz
United States

Passages
Ira Sachs
France, Germany

Peter von Kant
François Ozon
France, Belgium

Woman of…
Michal Englert, Malgorzata Szumowska
Poland, Sweden

QCDox

A selection of films that seek to document some slice of reality, assembling footage to reach a greater truth.

Divine Factory
Joseph Mangat
Taiwan, United States, Philippines

National Anarchist: Lino Brocka
Khavn
Philippines

Nowhere Near
Miko Revereza
Philippines

New Horizons

Heralding new voices in a platform for debut films

City of Wind
Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
Qatar, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Mongolia, France

Foremost by Night
Víctor Iriarte
Spain, Portugal, France

Scrapper
Charlotte Regan
United Kingdom

Through the Night
Delphine Girard
Belgium, France, Canada

Women from Rote Island
Jeremias Nyangoen
Indonesia

Restored Classics

Revisiting unforgettable classics

A Clockwork Orange
1971
Stanley Kubrick
United Kingdom, United States

Chungking Express
1994
Kar-Wai Wong
Hong Kong

Enter the Dragon
1973
Robert Clouse
Hong Kong, United States

Fallen Angels
1995
Kar-Wai Wong
Hong Kong

Before Midnight

Last full shows for chills & thrills

Femme
Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
United Kingdom

Hungry Ghost Diner
We Jun Cho
Malaysia

Red Rooms
Pascal Plante
Canada

River
Junta Yamaguchi
Japan

Opening Film

Poor Things

Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

In the Victorian era, Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) has somehow been brought back to life by the eccentric Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willen Dafoe), following her suicide. The doctor tries to ease Bella into her new life, but eager to fully embrace her rejuvenation, she runs off with debauched lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), and travels across the continent seeking unusual pleasures. Adapted from Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, Poor Things is a delirious, over-the-top, steampunk Victorian fantasy that has Stone and Ruffalo fully letting loose as they lean into the off-kilter vibe provided by Lanthimos.

Ireland, UK, USA | 2023 | 141 mins | Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction | English

Prod: David Minkowski, Andrew Lowe, Ed Guiney, Emma Stone, Ildikó Kemény, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kasia Malipan | Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos | Add. Dir: Edoardo Petti, Roxana Szarisz, Krisztina Barkóczy, Hayley Williams, Farkas Esztella | Scr: Tony McNamara | Ed: Yorgos Mavropsaridis | DOP: Robbie Ryan | With: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Suzy Bemba

Closing Film

The Breaking Ice

燃冬
Dir. Anthony Chen

Singapore’s entry to the 2024 Academy Awards. In the Chinese city of Yanji, near the border to North Korea, tourist Haofeng (Zhou Dongyu), guide Nana (Liu Haoran), and Nana’s friend Xiao explore the snowy city and its environs, and along the way develop feelings for each other as they discover truths about themselves. Inspired by the Nouvelle Vague classic Jules and Jim, Chen filters that film’s central relationships through Asian reserve, spinning a nuanced tale of young people who are not quite equipped to say what it is they really feel.

China, Singapore | 2023 | 97 mins | Drama | Chinese

Prod: Anthony Chen, Meng Xie | Dir/Scr: Anthony Chen | Ed: Hoping Chen, Soo Mun Hye | DOP: Jing-pin Yu | With: Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran, Qu Chuxiao

More details about the festival