In the Philippines, bakla is a term that stands for both an ‘effeminate gay man’ and also a transwoman, with its dualities having origins before Spanish colonization in the babaylan. The programme focuses on how being bakla has been represented, negotiated, and resisted in Filipino cinema. As short films are under far fewer restrictions and censorship, the filmmakers behind the programme interrogate with boundless rigour and personal sensitivity the bakla’s bodies, friends, age, spaces, and environments. The programme also depicts how digital techniques democratized filmmaking for the local queer community, turning cinema into a medium through which one can explore and confront not only one’s surroundings but also the self.

With a recorded introduction from curator Jason Tan Liwag. 

Total runtime: 89min

Honey 

A man wakes up to find that his lover is no longer in bed with him. Chaos ensues shortly after. 

Raul Sarmiento | Philippines | 1981 | 5min 

Margins 

Paolo’s sex life began at the age of 14 in the men’s room. Since then, his life has been divided into a world of light and shadow. His sexual awakening is also a political manifesto. Only in gay nightclubs can he be free. It’s a world of imaginary lovers and dancers in the dark, who don’t exist for society in the daytime. 

Paolo Villaluna | Philippines | 2001 | 17min 

Geography Lessons 

Tib Apostol, guided by a map made for him by his best friend in high school, retraces the memories of their friendship before he leaves their hometown for good. 

Petersen Vargas | Philippines | 2014 | 20min 

When I Wallowed In A Bowl of Sunshine 

Two trans-folx friends, together with their dog and plants, grieve for and with each other during a 14-day quarantine period. 

Kukay Zinampan | Philippines | 2021 | 24min 

Taking My Time to Dance 

Rana gets in dresses for the first time and is ready for a clubbing night. 

Celeste Lapida | Philippines | 2024 | 23min