Queer films are featured in the 21st Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival — Warla on trans women, Open Endings on lesbians, and Water Sports on gay men. Warla is the first Filipino film to feature an all-trans woman cast in lead roles — Jervi Wrightson (Kaladkaren), Lance Reblando, Serena Magiliw, and Valeria Ortega.
Directed by Kevin Alambra, Warla tells the story of a group of transgender women who kidnap foreign men to fund their gender-affirming surgeries, unaware that their pursuit of freedom may lead them behind bars. At the center is Kitkat, a young trans woman who finds the family she never had in the gang, only to be confronted with the harsh reality of their violent methods.
Loosely based on a true story, this crime drama explores how trans women who long to stop being preyed upon transform into perpetrators, carving out power in the only space they feel is left to them. The film explores survival, identity, justice, and the desperate measures taken by marginalized individuals to carve out a life and find belonging.
Alambra said, “This is not only a trans story, it is a human story. Because beyond gender or sexuality, isn’t this what we all long for? To live authentically. To be loved without condition and be cared for genuinely. To make choices that bring us closer to who we truly are.”
Open Endings follows the lives of four queer women—exes turned best friends—as they face an unexpected shift when one makes a life-changing decision. The romance may have ended, but the friendship remains strong.
It stars Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Klea Pineda, Janella Salvador, and Leanne Mamonong. The film’s director, Nigel Santos, said, “when things aren’t simple anymore, when relationships shift, labels blur, and friendship becomes the most lasting kind of intimacy. For many queer women, that uniquely intimate bond is what holds us through heartbreak, change, and everything in between. What I want to show is that staying connected, even after love takes a different shape, is still a love story.”
In the short film Water Sports, Jelson and Ipe are students deeply in love who undergo trials of the mind and body as they prepare to survive a world devastated by climate change. They learn that the best way to survive the end of the world is to simply live, laugh, and love.
Director Whammy Alcazaren said: “As a single gay man, this is my search for purpose in a dying world. And I resolve to be selfish. I find that the answer is in itself the solution to saving the world. Childish, Yes. But what is life without love? I propose that we live, laugh, and love to save the day. At the least, at the very end, we will have a hand to hold when we watch it all burn and fade away.”
Water Sports stars Elijah Canlas, Renz Javier, Bon Lentejas, and Ricky Davao.
Canlas also stars in the full-length entry Raging, which underscores the deafening silence surrounding male abuse.
Set in the mid-90s in Sibuyan, Romblon, Raging follows Eli (Elijah Canlas), a young man in his late teens who was raped by one of his peers (Ron Angeles). After reporting the incident to the authorities and having it dismissed as a playful prank between friends, he retreats into a world of silence and isolation. His best friend is gay.
Three films on gay and lesbian issues bagged major awards in the 2023 Cinemalaya.
Iti Mapukpukaw won Best Film (Full-Length) and the NETPAC Award, while Dolly de Leon won Best Supporting Actress.
The lesbian film Rookie won Best Actress for Pat Tingjuy, as well as the Audience Choice Award and Best Editing.
Huling Palabas won Best Director for Ryan Machado, while Bon Andrew Lentejas won Best Supporting Actor.
Although Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros did not win the Best Film award in 2005, it became one of the icons of indie cinema and has been included in various lists of the best gay films.
Transgender actor Mimi Juareza won Best Actor for Quick Change in the 2013 New Breed category.
One of the scenes in Warla shows a confrontation when Kitkat is asked to leave the female comfort room, a moment seen as part of the continuing campaign for the passage of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Bill.
The SOGIE Equality Bill is a series of House and Senate bills that seek to institutionalize measures preventing various forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
The bill enumerates discriminatory acts that would be deemed unlawful. These include denial of access to public services, refusal to allow the use of establishments and facilities, including housing, and rejection of applications for professional licenses—all based on a person’s SOGIE.
Set in the slums of Manila, the coming-of-age comedy-drama film by fellow UP alumnus Auraeus Solito is about a gay teen (Nathan Lopez) who is torn between his love for a young cop (JR Valentin) and his loyalty to his family.
It also deems discriminatory the differential treatment of employees or service providers, denial of admission to or expulsion from educational institutions, and refusal or revocation of accreditation to any organization due to an individual’s SOGIE.
Among the additional prohibited acts are coercing a person to undergo medical or psychological procedures to alter their SOGIE, outing someone without their consent, public speech aimed at vilifying LGBTQ+ people, harassment by law enforcement, and gender profiling.
