Cinemalaya 2026: 10 short films and 9 full-length films that made the cut

The 2026 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival on Wednesday officially launched the 10 short films and 9 full-length films participating in its 22nd edition.

Cinemalaya is an annual and pioneering film festival that aims to promote and develop independent Filipino filmmakers.

At the opening ceremony held at the Shangrila Plaza, the Cinemalaya organizing committee exhorted independent filmmakers to continue to create stories that will resonate with the Filipino people, even as it vowed to champion them through the staging of the film festival.

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For the 22nd edition, the festival will run from August 6 to 18, 2026, and will be shown in select cinemas in Metro Manila. Screenings at other cinemas will be announced in the coming days.

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An awarding ceremony will be held on August 17.

Below are the nine full-length films and that will participate in the festival, and their respective film directors:

A.ni.mal (Dustin Celestino)

2 Valid IDs (Asuncion Dagnalan)

Ganggang (JL Burgos)

Hand of God (Mark Duane Angos)

Mag-iina (Giancarlo Abrahan)

Kaka sa Yawan (Alpha Habon)

Status: Rejected (Vahn Leinard Pascual)

Tayo Lang Ang Nakakaalam (David Corpuz)

Tirik (May-I Badilla)

Meanwhile, here are the 10 short films that were chosen:

Elenita, Elena, Elaine

Honey, My Love, So Sweet

Hoy, Hoy, Ingat

Kung Paano Kakalas

Para-paraan

Runo

Silkscreen

Sorbetes

The Keeper

The River Flows in Different Places

The full-length films were selected out of 199 entries submitted, while there were 278 short films that were sent to the committee for screening.

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Each of the 9 entries for the full-length film category shall receive a P1 million production grant from the Cultural Center of the Philippines and another P1 million production grant from the Film Development Council of the Philippines, to be released in tranches.

In his speech during the ceremony, FDCP chairman and filmmaker Jose Javier Reyes underscored why Cinemalaya remains important and relevant up to this day.

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“Looking back at the most recent development of Philippine cinema, four out of the 10 best films of last year came from Cinemalaya. If that is not an indication of the importance, significance of young filmmakers finding their voices but more so, finding a platform to share these voices, then I don’t know of any other film event in this country that can match that,” he said.

For Philippine cinema to survive to the next generation, Reyes challenged the young filmmakers to be innovative amid the onset of digital technologies.

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“We are at that very critical point in the history of Philippine cinema that it is not only a matter of persistence but a matter of existence and survival. If Philippine cinema should survive amidst the forage of all kinds of technological developments including streaming, we must be innovative, we must think out of the box, and we must think global. And there is no better example than the works of the independent filmmakers who think out of the box, who defy convention, but more so push the very value of the existence of the Filipino creative,” he further said.