QCinema Unveils Competition Sections; Alice Winocour’s ‘Couture’ Set As Opening Film
Asian Next Wave competition will screen nine films, including four award-winning titles making their Southeast Asian premiere.
Philippines’ QCinema International Film Festival (November 14-23) has announced the full line-up for its 13th edition, including its four competition sections: Asian Next Wave, New Horizons, RainbowQC and QCShorts International.
Alice Winocour’s Couture starring Angelina Jolie, a film within a film following an American director arriving in Paris for Fashion Week, has been set as the opening film.
With the theme ‘Film City’, this year’s edition of the festival celebrates the art of filmmaking – highlighting films that explore how cinema interrogates itself and the craft of storytelling. In total the festival will screen 63 feature-length films and 26 short films, across nine full-length sections and five short programmes.
In Asian Next Wave, the festival’s main feature film competition, four multi-award-winning titles are making their Southeast Asian premiere – Pan Ke-yin’s Family Matters (Taiwan), Leon Le’s Ky Nam Inn (Vietnam), Akio Fujimoto’s Lost Land and Yoon Ga-Eun’s The World Of Love (South Korea).
Janus Victoria’s Diamonds In The Sand, starring Lily Franky, which won the White Mulberry at this year’s Far East Film Festival in Italy, and Nigel Santos’ lesbian romantic drama Open Endings, which recently played at the Cinemalaya film festival, are the only Filipino feature-length entries in the competition line-ups (see full line-ups below).
New Horizons, the festival’s showcase for debut and second features, includes the Southeast Asian premieres of Danzuka Yuiga’s Brand New Landscape (Japan), Kristen Stewart’s Chronology Of Water (US, France, Latvia), Lloyd Lee Choi’s Lucky Lu (Canada, US) and Georgi Unkovski’s DJ Ahmet (North Macedonia, Czechia, Serbia, Croatia), as well as the Asian premiere of Marianna Brennand’s Manas (Brazil, Portugal).
RainbowQC, the festival’s showcase for queer films, features top prize winners from several recent festivals including the Southeast Asian premieres of Hafsia Herzi’s Cannes Queer Palm winner The Little Sister (France, Germany), Diego Cespedes’ Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingoes (Chile) and Jaume Claret Muxart’s Reykjavík Golden Puffin winner Strange River (Spain, Germany).
The festival’s short film programming has also expanded significantly, with 21 short films competing in this year’s QCShorts International.
At the centre are world premieres of six Filipino recipients of the QCShorts grant – Norvin de los Santos’ social comedy Hoy, Hoy, Ingat!; Lauviah Caliboso’s queer children’s drama Ours Was A Timeless Night Burning; Lysa Catolico and Jazmine Gin Pateña’s animated dystopic animal comedy Runo!; Dale's experimental film Si Kara: Ang Babaye Nga Nag Daba-Daba; the Serrano Sisters’ wedding drama Surface Tension; and Gab Rosique’s bomba thriller Yelo.
Beyond the competition sections, new sidebars include Dokyu Days, a non-fiction showcase that will screen titles including Gianfranco Rosi’s Below The Clouds and Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice Of Hind Rajab; and a special focus on German actress Sandra Hüller, who was nominated for best actress for Anatomy Of A Fall at last year’s Oscars. Sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Manila, the Sandra Hüller focus will screen Anatomy Of A Fall and four other films.
Regular QCinema sections include Screen International for world cinema, which in addition to Couture will screen Ali Asgari’s Divine Comedy, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet and Oliver Laxe’s Sirat, among other titles.
QC Selects, a programme dedicated to homegrown films and festival favourites, will include the world premiere of several local titles, including Pedring Lopez’ English-language debut Shadow Transit, starring Qymira and Yoshi Sudarso; and the first two episodes of Erik Matti’s Call My Manager, the Filipino adaptation of French series Call My Agent.
Produced by HBO Max, Call My Manager stars Judy Ann Santos, Edu Manzano, Gina Alajar and RK Bagatsing. It will be the first television show to premiere at the festival – highlighting its evolving nature with screen culture.
ASIAN NEXT WAVE COMPETITION:
A Useful Ghost, dir: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Thailand, France, Singapore, Germany)
Diamonds In The Sand, dir: Janus Victoria (Japan, Malaysia, Philippines)
Family Matters, dir: Pan Ke-yin (Taiwan)
Ky Nam Inn, dir: Leon Le (Vietnam)
Lost Land, dir: Akio Fujimoto (Japan, France, Malaysia, Germany)
Luz, dir: Flora Lau (China, Hong Kong)
Open Endings, dir: Nigel Santos (Philippines)
Renoir, dir: Chie Hayakawa (Japan)
The World Of Love, dir: Yoon Ga-Eun (South Korea)
NEW HORIZONS COMPETITION:
Amoeba, dir: Siyou Tan (Singapore, Netherlands, France, Spain, Korea)
Blue Heron, dir: Sophy Romvari (Canada, Hungary, US)
Brand New Landscape, dir: Danzuka Yuiga (Japan)
Chronology Of Water, dir: Kristen Stewart (US, France, Latvia)
DJ Ahmet, dir: Georgi Unkovski (North Macedonia, Czechia, Serbia, Croatia)
Lucky Lu, dir: Lloyd Lee Choi (Canada, US)
Manas, dir: Marianna Brennand (Brazil, Portugal)
On Your Lap, dir: Reza Rahadian (Indonesia)
The President’s Cake, dir: Hasan Hadi (Iraq, US, Qatar)
RAINBOWQC COMPETITION:
3670, dir: Park Joon-Ho (South Korea)
Bel Ami, dir: Geng Jun (France, Taiwan)
Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingoes, dir: Diego Céspedes (Chile)
On The Road, dir: David Pablos (Mexico)
Skin Of Youth, dir: Ash Mayfair (Vietnam, Singapore, Japan)
Strange River, dir: Jaume Claret Muxart (Spain, Germany)
Summer’s Camera, dir: Divine Sung (South Korea)
The Little Sister, dir: Hafsia Herzi (France, Germany)
