The 2025 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival ended on Sunday, October 12, 2025 at the Red Carper Cinema of Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City.
The day before, though, it officially closes (meaning, most of the activities) with a musical film of auteur great filmmaker Mike de Leon.
De Leon, who just died recently, was given the special tribute because of his unique style and substance in his masterpiece “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” an allegorical moving screen piece about the state of Philippine society where foreign interests reign while the progress of the native land is sacrificed because of the collaborations of various institutions like the family, church, government, business etc. to the detriment of its citizens.
Written by de Leon himself, alongside Clodualdo Del Mundo Jr. and Raquel Villavicencio, “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” is a 1980 satirical musical-comedy about four Filipinos who fall victim to a contraband-planting scheme as they fly back to the country, and are then caught in the middle of a crime syndicate plotting on using materials from the Catholic church to control the nation.
The film features a star-studded cast with the likes of Christopher De Leon, often referred to as the ‘King of Philippine Drama’, Charo Santos-Concio, Jay Ilagan, and Sandy Andolong, who play the four main characters of the film.
Meanwhile, the Cinemalaya 21 awards night was attended by the reps of all ten (10) full-length features and ten (10) short films.
Christopher de Leon led the jury with members Michiko Yamamoto, an award-winning screenwriter, Pepe Diokno, a prizewinning director, Mark Schilling, a respected film professional who specializes in Asian cinema and Sophia Wellington, a well-rounded film educator, scriptwriter and screenplay consultant.
This year’s Cinemalaya opened with an Indian film, “The Elysian Field,” a NETPAC (Network and Promotion of Asian Cinema) award-winning film by Indian filmmaker Pradip Kurbah.
The film follows the six remaining residents of a secluded Meghalaya village as they cope with grief and loneliness in the face of urban migration.
In the Short Film category, the 2025 Cinemalaya featured regional films from the Visayan islands, two of them, namely, “Kung Tugnaw Ang Kaidalman Sang Lawod (Cold as the Ocean Runs Deep)” by Seth Andrew Blanca and “Hasang” by Daniel de la Cruz.
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