In celebration of Pride Month, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) presents Pelikulaya 2026, a film program that showcases queer narratives in cinema—both local and international—that champion courage, authenticity, and breaking boundaries.
“It’s more than just an assortment of works depicting the lifestyle and universe of the experiences of a marginalized community,” FDCP Chair Jose Javier Reyes tells Lifestyle Inquirer.
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8 must-see queer films
The festival, which will be screened across FDCP Cinematheque Centres in Manila, Negros, Davao, and Iloilo, will run from June 23 to July 3. Admission is free to the public. For the complete schedule, visit FDCP’s official Facebook page.
Leading the lineup is Lino Brocka’s “Macho Dancer,” which was censored during its 1988 release but is now returning uncut in a 4K restored version. The festival also revisits two hit collaborations by Vice Ganda and Wenn Deramas, which were once dismissed as shallow slapstick fare but are now starting to be seen as comforting escapes that, intentionally or not, championed queer visibility in mainstream cinema.
Meanwhile, contemporary Filipino titles “Dreamboi” and “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking,” together with a selection of international queer cinema, amplify the program’s engagement with queer experiences.
1. “Macho Dancer” (dir. Lino Brocka)
A young man leaves his provincial hometown and ends up working as an erotic dancer in Manila’s gay club scene. While this social realist melodrama remains one of Philippine cinema’s most uncompromising portrayals of exploitation and the realities of sex work, it also offers an empathetic look at an unlikely coming-of-age journey.
2. “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking” (dir. Petersen Vargas)
When a young hustler dies after a night with a client, his friends set out to return him to his hometown and fulfill his final wish. Along the way, their journey becomes a moving portrait of grief, friendship, and belonging.
3. “Dreamboi” (dir. Rodina Singh)
A trans woman turns to audio pornography in an attempt to rekindle her desire and feel something again. Fantasy and reality begin to blur when she discovers that the anonymous voice behind her favorite audio porn star is closer to her life than she had imagined.
4. “Petrang Kabayo” (dir. Wenn V. Deramas)
Discriminated against because of his sexuality, Peter grows up to be a rich but cruel man who’s cursed to transform into a horse whenever he acts out of anger or malice. This fantasy comedy uses its zany premise and camp humor to explore empathy and redemption.
5. “Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy” (dir. Wenn V. Deramas)
Quadruplets with different gender identities reunite when a medical crisis forces them to confront their broken family. With Vice Ganda playing multiple roles, the ensemble comedy explores identity and familial reconciliation.
6. “Tomboy” (dir. Céline Sciamma)
After moving to a new neighborhood in Paris, a 10-year-old child starts presenting as a boy and introduces themself to new friends using a different name. In a summer of discovery, friendships and intimacies form, and before long, the child’s shifting identity becomes difficult to sustain.
7. “Mysterious Skin” (dir. Gregg Araki)
Two boys in small-town Kansas share a childhood experience that they interpret in drastically different ways: One turns toward sex work in adolescence; the other is convinced that he was abducted by aliens. Years later, they cross paths and are forced to reckon with the trauma of abuse that informed their identities.
8. “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo” (dir. Diego Céspedes)
In 1982, a young girl raised by a queer community comes of age in a remote Chilean mining town. Rumors of a mysterious and deadly disease spread, allegedly transmitted through the mere act of glancing, and her chosen family bears the blame.As fear permeates their hometown, she questions the surrounding hysteria and learns about the fragility of collective belief.
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International titles and short films to watch out for
Other international titles broadening the line’s scope of queer narratives are: “Blue Film” (Elliott Tuttle), “Amoeba” (Siyou Tan), “A Useful Ghost” (Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke), “The Chronology of Water” (Kristen Stewart), and “Muy Lejos” (Gerard Oms).
Aside from full-length features, the FDCP will also screen short films, including “Kara: The Burning Woman” (Dale Gugudan), “Somewhere All the Boys Are Birds” (Apa Agbayani), “Honey, My Love, So Sweet” (JT Trinidad), “Mom, If I Were a Vampire” (Deborah Devyn Chuang), “Yelo” (Gab Rosique), “At Least We Had This Moment” (Joshua de Vera), “Two Black Boys in Paradise” (Baz Sells), and “Perslab” (Ronnie Ramos).
Indeed, this year’s Pelikulaya, Reyes says, “is a venue for conversation, discussion, and argumentations about the direction of queer cinema here and abroad.”
