Canadian Premiere
Selection 2018

Neomanila

Directed by Mikhail Red

Mon July 16, 2018
5:30 PM

Salle J.A. De Sève

Wed July 18, 2018
5:15 PM

Salle J.A. De Sève

Credits  

Director

Mikhail Red

Writer

Zig Dulay, Mikhail Red, Rae Red

Cast

Angeline Andoy, Angeli Bayani, Timothy Castillo, Jess Mendoza, Rocky Salumbides, Eula Valdes

Producer

Nicole Runi

Cinematographer

Mycko David

Sound Designer

Ditoy Aguila, JR Doroteo

Composer

Myka Magsaysay, Paul Sigua

Editor

Jeffrey Loreno, Mikhail Red

Honors

Audience Choice Award, Best Artistic Achievement Award (Cinematography), Quezon City International Film Festival

Most Promising Talent Award, Osaka Asian Film Festival

Best Actor, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Philippines 2017 102 mins OV Filipino Subtitles : English
Genre DramaThriller

Official selection

Quezon City International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Osaka Asian Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival

“A slick, poised, noir-infused thriller…well beyond the gritty realism and loud melodrama so common in socially-conscious Filipino cinema”
Clarence Tsui, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“A magnificent dark dystopia representing a past future we all thought was far away”
Fauston Vernazzani, EASTERN KICKS


Manila, 15 minutes into the future. The government’s draconian policies are ongoing, and extrajudicial executions are part of everyday life. These are aimed primarily at low-level drug dealers and affect disadvantaged districts, without ever eradicating the source of the “problem”. Trapped in this maelstrom of violence and corruption, the young Toto has no choice but to betray his gang, in exchange for the conditional release of his brother. But in doing so, he puts himself in the path of a death squad, made up of Irma and Raul, a couple of assassins, freelance exterminators who take the boy under their wing and begin to teach him the basics of the job – to make him yet another mercenary at the service of the Filipino authorities...

Director Mikhail Red follows BIRDSHOT (Best Film Award at the 2016 Tokyo Film Festival) with NEOMANILA, a neo-noir that brilliantly combines realism and the dystopian, stylizing reality to better observe it and commenting on current events. Under the Duterte presidency, "EJKs", or extrajudicial killings, have increased in frequency and popular support (Duterte having promised to “clean up” his country), and Red’s descent into hell leads the viewer to both sides of the phenomenon – not to mention the battlefield. Under the cover of genre cinema, NEOMANILA bravely questions the repercussions of such a climate of violence on ordinary people's lives, and demonstrates the intimate consequences of politics, as well as the futility of abuse of power leading to more violence. – Translation: Rupert Bottenberg

Showings

Mon July 16, 2018
5:30 PM

Salle J.A. De Sève

Wed July 18, 2018
5:15 PM

Salle J.A. De Sève