Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz has added another major international honor to his already celebrated career after his latest historical drama, “Makikiraan Po (Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors),” won the Brian Award at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
The recognition was announced during the ongoing Biennale Cinema 2026, which runs from September 2 to 12 on the Lido in Venice. The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) congratulated Diaz and the film’s creative team following the award.
The Brian Award, or Premio Brian, is presented by the Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti (UAAR), an Italian organization promoting secularism, rational thought, freedom of conscience, pluralism and related humanist values. The award is separate from Venice’s main competition prizes.
A film confronting the Philippines’ colonial past
“Makikiraan Po,” translated as “Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors,” takes audiences back to the Philippines in 1617, during the period of Spanish colonial rule.
According to the official Venice Biennale synopsis, the film centers on Padre Enciso, a Spanish friar and encomendero who oversees the construction of a church while exerting control over Indigenous communities. His son, Dungwen, is tasked with transporting limestone through territories where Indigenous resistance continues.
The film examines the intersection of Spanish colonialism, forced labor, religious conversion and the destruction of Indigenous communities, themes that have long been central to Diaz’s historical filmmaking.
The Venice Biennale describes the production as a 151-minute Tagalog-language film, with Diaz serving not only as director but also as screenwriter, cinematographer, editor and production designer.
Why the Brian Award matters
The Brian Award jury praised “Makikiraan Po” for confronting the historical role of religion and colonial power in the Philippines while preserving the memory of that period and connecting it to contemporary questions surrounding freedom and secularism.
The 2026 prize is the 21st edition of the Brian Award, according to UAAR.
The award’s name comes from the Monty Python film “Life of Brian.” It recognizes a film that particularly reflects the organization’s values surrounding rationalism, freedom of conscience, democracy, pluralism and equal treatment.
Another Venice milestone for Lav Diaz
The latest recognition is especially significant because Diaz has a long relationship with the Venice Film Festival.
In 2016, he won Venice’s top prize, the Golden Lion, for The Woman Who Left (Ang Babaeng Humayo)—making him the first Filipino filmmaker to receive the festival’s highest honor.
His 2026 Brian Award therefore marks another significant Venice achievement, although it should not be described as another Golden Lion or as a main competition victory.
Diaz’s latest film was officially selected for Venice Open – Out of Competition, a section reserved for notable works presented outside the festival’s principal competition.
A powerful Philippine creative team
“Makikiraan Po” features a Filipino ensemble including Bart Guingona, Ronnie Lazaro, Isabel Sandoval, Yul Servo, Christian Bables, Bong Cabrera, Rafa Siguion-Reyna and Amado Arjay Babon.
The film was produced by C’est Lovi Productions, Epicmedia Productions and Sine Olivia Pilipinas, with Lovi Poe and Montgomery Blencowe, Bianca Balbuena, and Hazel Orencio among the production team credited by the Venice Biennale.
The film’s Venice presentation also reinforces Diaz’s continuing role in bringing Philippine history and political memory to major international cinema audiences.
From Spanish colonization to the present
Diaz has frequently used cinema to revisit difficult chapters of Philippine history.
In an interview with Vogue Philippines, the filmmaker discussed his long relationship with Venice and his continuing interest in using cinema to examine the country’s historical struggles. The publication noted that “Makikiraan Po” follows his earlier Venice entries, including The Woman Who Left, Genus Pan and Melancholia.
The film arrives after Diaz’s “Magellan”, which premiered at Cannes in 2025 and explored another chapter of the Philippines’ encounter with European colonial expansion.
That makes “Makikiraan Po” part of a larger body of work in which Diaz continues to examine how colonialism shaped—and continues to influence—the Philippines.
What comes next?
The Brian Award adds another international distinction to Diaz’s career, but the conversation surrounding “Makikiraan Po” is unlikely to end with the trophy.
The film’s Venice screenings were scheduled at Sala Giardino on September 11 and September 12, with the latter taking place on the festival’s closing day.
As Venice prepares to conclude its 83rd edition, Diaz’s latest achievement gives Philippine cinema another reason to command international attention.
From the Golden Lion in 2016 to the Brian Award in 2026, Lav Diaz continues to use the world’s major film stages to force audiences to confront the Philippines’ complicated historical memory—and this latest recognition suggests that conversation is far from over.
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