Philippines / France / Norway / Qatar 2019, 85 min, Filipino, Hebrew & English subtitles
Monsters walk the streets of Manila: vampires, ghosts, witches. The rich and powerful cannot see them, but everyone else runs into them again and again. These monsters, known as Aswang, have been allowed to roam the streets of the Philippine capital since President Rodrigo Duterte’s rise to power—and they have been leaving a trail of corpses behind them.
In Alyx Ayn Arumpac’s impressively stylized film, Duterte’s war on drugs is exposed as a war against the destitute: the poor, the homeless, and the drug users.
With rare sensitivity, the director follows people whose lives have been turned upside down. A priest, a coroner, and a street urchin who has had to mourn many friends try to survive in a new reality, where authorities have free rein to shed the blood of anyone they deem suspicious.
Beyond the Screen Award Winner
Previous Festivals: IDFA
