The 2026 Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival is bringing Filipino audiences a diverse lineup of stories that explore love, grief, mortality, and the fragile boundary between life and death.
Now in its third edition, the festival features seven full-length films alongside 19 student short films, with screenings running through Oct. 4 at participating cinemas across Metro Manila. Several screenings have already sold out, reflecting strong audience interest in locally produced stories.
Among the feature films drawing attention are stories that use death not simply as an ending, but as a way to examine relationships, unfinished business, family, and the meaning people attach to the lives they leave behind.
“Mono No Aware,” directed by BC Amparado and starring Juan Karlos Labajo and Perry Dizon, follows a Filipino worker in Japan who cleans the homes of elderly people who have died alone. His encounters with the belongings and memories left behind lead him into a deeper reflection on grief, loneliness, and the fleeting nature of life.
“Patay Gutom,” directed by Carl Joseph Papa and Ian Pangilinan, takes a supernatural approach to similar questions. Khalil Ramos plays a shut-in whose accidental consumption of a ghost’s offering opens his ability to see spirits, bringing him into an unexpected relationship shaped by family secrets, heartbreak, and the boundary between the living and the dead.
“Multwoh (Patay na Patay Sa’yo),” directed by Rodina Singh, follows a college student who dies unexpectedly and returns as a ghost. Rather than seeking revenge, the spirit comes back with unfinished emotional business, turning the supernatural premise into a story about love, fear, desire, and words left unsaid.
Together, the films demonstrate how contemporary Filipino filmmakers can approach mortality through different genres, from quiet drama to supernatural romance and dark comedy. Their shared focus on impermanence gives the festival an emotional thread while allowing each filmmaker to tell a distinctly different story.
The wider CinePanalo lineup also spans coming-of-age stories, romance, supernatural narratives, family drama, and other genres, reinforcing the festival’s emphasis on giving Filipino filmmakers opportunities to bring original stories to the big screen.
With screenings continuing through Oct. 4, CinePanalo 2026 is putting a broad range of Filipino voices in front of cinema audiences while placing deeply personal questions about love, loss, and mortality at the center of its stories.
