WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF BAKUNAWA FEST !
Bakunawa Fest is the first fantastic film fest in the Philippines and one of the logest-running very independent volunteer-artist-ran film fest of its kind this side of the planet. Bakunawa is a mythical dragon-like creature that devoured moons in Visayan mythology. This year 2025, we're running two editions - 11th (to fulfill our commitments from 2024) and 12th (going back to where it started, Bacolod City, in December)
DECEMBER 6 TO 12, 2025 I BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL
DECEMBER 11 TO 13, 2025 I ILOILO CITY, WESTERN VISAYAS
DECEMBER 19, 23 AND 26, 2025 I CITY OF MANILA, NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
UNLEASHING CREATIVE DRAGONS i BENDING GENRES I KEEPING THE INDEPENDENT SPIRIT ALIVE
BY THE NUMBERS EDITION 12
4
Screening Venues
183
Submissions
3
New Partners
70
Target Selections
85
Final Selections
BAKUNAWA FEST 12 VISUAL IDENTITY
Bakunawa Festival unveils the official poster and visual identity for its 12th edition, introducing a comic-style design anchored in the theme '12 Hangway' (12 Warriors of the Post-Apocalypse). This year’s identity reimagines the festival’s mythic spirit through vivid illustrations, dynamic characters and a graphic-novel aesthetic that reflects both defiance and renewal, echoing the festival’s ongoing celebration of creative resilience.
Developed in collaboration with E Unlimited and the theater group WVSU TeatroTayo (based in Iloilo City) under the artistic direction of Prof. Jemuel Garcia Jr., the poster introduces twelve fictional warriors who stand as symbols of artistic courage, community survival, and the enduring power of storytelling in uncertain times. Their stylized forms, rendered in lines and dynamic colors, embody the festival’s renewed energy as it enters its twelfth year.
The identity serves as an invitation, calling filmmakers, audiences, and dreamers to step into a world where imagination becomes a weapon of hope - even under zero budgets. Bakunawa Fest 12 marks another milestone for the festival as it continues to merge cinema, performance, and visual arts into one evolving cultural universe.
The cast of the '12 Hangaway' include young theater actors (see photo) with their characters' names in parenthesis:
Left to right top: Victor Carlos Bayan (Matwab), Luje Mae Farillon (Kusag), Mike Deniel Rabusa (Gedon).
Left to right middle: Charles Azuela, Jon Athan Maypa (Sikdor), Sunshine Solijon (Tyudyl), Geleen Christianne Morit, Crystil Joy Sepaya (Ozfra), Josh Samontanes (Darsam), Thea Anne Mendoza (Inwam).
Left to right sitting at the bottom: Renien Mea Barnezo (Pinza), Von Carlo Garbino (Udquu).
The official poster is now released across the festival’s platforms, heralding an adventurous chapter under the moon.
BAKUNAWA FEST 12 OPENS WITH THREE BOLD PREMIERES
Kicking off its twelfth edition, Bakunawa Festival unveils an opening slate that embodies its commitment to global discovery, artistic risk, and the celebration of new cinematic voices. This year’s selection draws together emerging and established filmmakers who navigate creative landscapes and the unseen forces that shape human experience. The opening night program reflects the festival’s continued dedication to presenting films that challenge conventions and provoke meaningful dialogue among audiences, artists, and communities.
Bakunawa Festival proudly announces its opening lineup featuring three striking works from across the globe. Leading this year’s opening showcase is the Southeast Asian premiere of 'Because Greece is Not Our Country or Blue-black and Transparent White by Sudipta Laha' (2024, India), a reflective and visually arresting meditation on memory, migration, and myth. Joining the program are two shorts: Whammy Alcazaren’s 'Water Sports', marking its Bacolod and Iloilo premiere, bringing his signature experimental lens to intimate and restless terrains; and 'La habitación del macho cabrio' (The Devil Room) by Duban Pinzón (2025, Colombia), a haunting and atmospheric animated work that confronts desire, confinement, and the supernatural, making its Asian premiere.
As Bakunawa Fest continues to gather films that echo the pulse of different regions and the inner worlds of their makers, this opening lineup stands as a testament to the festival’s pursuit of bold cinema. Each of these works offers a unique entry point into stories that are personal and transcendent - perfectly aligned with the festival’s enduring ethos.
Bakunawa Fest 12 opens its doors with films that are fearless, imaginative, and unafraid to break form, an invitation to another year of cinema under the moon!
OPENING FILMS, DECEMBER 6, 2025
Cinematheque Centre Negros, Bacolod City
DECEMBER 11-12, 2025 'Watersports' and 'The Devil Room'
TAOHAY NCCA Cultural Center and Regional Hub, Iloilo City
* to be preceeded by Cinema Conversations with Film Critic Tito Valiente and Director Jeffrey Jeturian, co-presented by CineKasimanwa
DECEMBER 19, 2025 'Watersports' and 'The Devil Room'
Centro de Turismo, Intramuros, City of Manila
RETURNING FILMMAKERS,
BAKUNAWA FEST 12
We are thrilled to welcome back four returning filmmakers whose works have previously been featured in earlier editions of Bakunawa Fest. This year, Christophe Karabache returns with 'City Exterminator', following the screening of his wonderful film 'Zaman Dark' (Closing Film, Bakunawa Fest 11). Gerardo Maravilla joins us again with 'Enseñame Como Morir' (Show Me How To Die), after his past Bakunawa-featured work, the curiously-poignant vampire film 'Vivir' (Bakunawa Fest 11, Competition). Christian Hui comes back with co-director (Andrea Baedak), presenting 'Kintohpatatin (Justice) – Chéng 誠 (Honesty)', succeeding their previously programmed docu 'Walking in His Shoes' (Bakunawa Fest X). Rounding out our returning filmmakers is young director Jael Mathea Tipon, whose new film 'Dapyos' follows her earlier participation with the 'Balangaw' trilogy (three Bakunawa Fests) as both director and actress. We are excited to welcome them back and we celebrate their continued artistic journeys with the festival.
BAKUNAWA FEST 12 CLOSES WITH DARING CINEMATIC TRIO
Bakunawa Festival 12 proudly reveals its trio of closing films, a powerful constellation of works that confront survival, longing and mortality through daring cinematic voices from Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and the United States.
Headlining the closing night is the Southeast Asian premiere of 구제역에서 살아 돌아온 돼지 (Pig That Survived Foot and Mouth Disease) by Hur Bum-Wook (2024, Republic of Korea), an unflinching and poetic examination of resilience in the face of devastation. Told with stark unique imagery and a deeply human insight, the film explores the fragile boundary between life and loss in a world marked by crisis.
Meanwhile, one of the two closing shorts is Seb Valdez’s 'Si Sir Kag ang Gamay nga Bata' (2025), offering an intimate and grounded narrative of supernatural mentorship. Valdez, the first filmmaker from Negros Occidental to close Bakunawa Fest, creates a fascinating and quite personal film that explores the dark delicate bond of two contrasting characters.
Rounding out the lineup is the Asian premiere of 'Enseñame Como Morir' (Show Me How To Die) by returning Bakunawa alum Gerardo Maravilla (2025, USA), a haunting very personal meditation on grief and the stories we inherit. Maravilla’s film pushes the boundaries of personal cinema, weaving cultural echoes and emotional truth into a quietly devastating experience.
Together, these closing films illuminate the festival’s core themes: endurance, and transformation. These films bring Bakunawa Fest 12 to a close with voices that refuse to look away and images that continue to resonate long after the screen fades to black.
CLOSING FILMS, DECEMBER 19, 2025
Centro de Turismo, Intramuros, City of Manila
* Q&A with director Hur Bum-Wook who will be in attendance
DECEMBER 11-12, 2025 ''Si Sir Kag ang Gamay nga Bata' and 'Show Me How to Die'
TAOHAY NCCA Cultural Center and Regional Hub, Iloilo City
* to be preceeded by Cinema Conversations with Film Critic Tito Valiente and Director Jeffrey Jeturian, co-presented by CineKasimanwa
FRENCH MUSIC ARTIST, OSCAR LES VANANCES, IS FEATURED MUSIC ARTIST OF BAKUNAWA FEST 12'S RYTMO SECTION
Bakunawa Fest 12 proudly announces French music artist and filmmaker, Oscar les vacances, as its featured music artist for the section, Rytmo (Rhythms). Oscar les vacances, a multifaceted French artist. After a well-received first album and a Jury Prize at the Inouïs – Printemps de Bourges Festival, Oscar has performed over 150 concerts, presenting a completely original universe. For Oscar, drawing, animation, video and music feed off each other, coexisting in his daily life since adolescence. This is palpable on stage, where whimsical masked characters (his imaginary friends) come to life and accompany Oscar on a truly unique musical journey of self-discovery.
IMAGES FROM BAKUNAWA FEST X
Looking back at Bakunawa Fest X at the UP Film Center, Ishmael Bernal Gallery and the UPFI Videotheque in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. We had filmmaker guests from Vietnam, Spain, Indonesia and Japan (who flew on their own - we love you for that!) with attending Filmmakers from all over the Philippines. Bakunawa X (10th edirion) was done in partnership with SolarFlix, Outlines, Eduksine, TulasalitaanPh, UP Film Institute and Printwiz Digital Printing. In collaboration with the Hundred Islands Film Festival of Alaminos, Pangasinan.
We're a very lean team so we thank you for your patience. Our new email address is bakunawafest@gmail.com
Sign up to hear updates about news and more!
Stay Updated
.jpeg)