QCinema 2026 Guide: Film Lineup, Screening Venues, Dates, and Ticket Prices

Film enthusiasts can look forward to 10 days of international cinema as the QCinema International Film Festival returns for its 14th edition, running November 13 to 22, 2026, across five Quezon City venues.

This year’s festival, themed Genre’teurs, explores the intersection of genre filmmaking and auteur cinema. The program brings together Filipino productions, international award-winning films, independent features, animated works, LGBTQIA+ stories, documentaries, and restored cinematic classics.

The festival opens with the world premiere of Ella Arcangel: Ballad of Tooth and Claw (Ella Arcangel: Awit ng Pangil at Kuko), an animated feature directed by Mervin Malonzo. The film combines Filipino supernatural folklore with social commentary, offering a distinctive take on the monsters and injustices that shape everyday life.

The festival will close with Look Back, a live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s acclaimed manga, directed by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. Starring Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita, the film explores friendship, artistic ambition, and the lasting influence of creative partnerships.

Screenings will take place at Gateway Cineplex 18, Robinsons Movieworld Galleria, Ayala Malls Cinemas TriNoma, Fisher Box Office, and SM Cinema at SM City Fairview. All festival screenings cost PHP 200 per ticket.

Ella Arcangel Leads the Filipino Film Highlights

Based on Julius Villanueva’s comics, Ella Arcangel: Ballad of Tooth and Claw follows 12-year-old Ella, voiced by Bianca Umali, a young mambabarang who confronts malevolent spirits while navigating violence and abuses of authority in her community amid the government’s war on drugs.

The animated fantasy-horror film blends supernatural elements with pressing social realities, placing Filipino folklore at the center of a contemporary story. The project previously received a PHP 1.5-million QCinema Project Market Philippines Co-Production Grant in 2023.

Its selection as the opening film highlights the festival’s continuing support for homegrown filmmaking and stories that reflect the Philippines’ cultural identity and social landscape.

Asian Next Wave Spotlights Emerging Asian Filmmakers

The festival’s main competition, Asian Next Wave, brings together filmmakers from across the region, showcasing ambitious storytelling and diverse cinematic perspectives.

Among the featured titles is 9 Temples to Heaven, directed by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, which follows a businessman who visits nine temples after a fortune teller predicts his mother’s imminent death. The film premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight and was selected as Thailand’s submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

Other highlights include A Girl Unknown by Zou Jing, a coming-of-age drama that won the FIPRESCI Prize and Gan Foundation Award at Cannes Critics’ Week, and Fujiko by Taichi Kimura, a story about a single mother challenging social expectations in 1970s Japan.

The lineup also features Fruit Gathering by Aung Phyoe, a queer drama about a young factory worker in Myanmar that won the Crystal Globe Grand Prix at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

The selection is completed by Hearing by Lê Bao, The Burning Giants by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, and The World Before by Yoon Da-bi, alongside the opening film Ella Arcangel.

New Horizons Introduces Bold New Voices

New Horizons focuses on feature directorial debuts and second films, giving audiences an opportunity to discover filmmakers experimenting with form, subject matter, and storytelling.

The competition includes Angh by Theja Rio, a historical drama about a Konyak family in 1960s Nagaland confronting changes to its traditions. The film won the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Also featured is Baby Jackfruit, Baby Guava by Nong Nhat Quang, a documentary exploring family relationships, sexuality, neurodivergence, and the silences between loved ones. The film received a Special Jury Award in the Burning Lights Competition at Visions du Réel 2026.

Other titles include Beach Fictions, Furies, La Gradiva, Sad Girlz, The Color of the Sun, and the animated drama We Are Aliens. Their subjects range from romance and adolescence to economic hardship, sexual violence, and cultural tensions.

RainbowQC Celebrates LGBTQIA+ Stories

QCinema’s RainbowQC section presents films that explore queer identities, relationships, desire, family, and belonging across cultures.

Among its highlights is Flesh and Fuel by Pierre le Gall, a romantic drama about two truck drivers who form an unexpected connection. The film won the Queer Palm Revelation prize at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.

Horror fans can look forward to Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma by Jane Schoenbrun, which follows a filmmaker investigating an abandoned camp while trying to recruit a reclusive star. The film opened the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes and won the Queer Palm.

The program also includes Big Little Things, I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming, Jim Queen, Little Trouble Girls, Lovers in the Blue Night, and The Riverbank.

Together, these titles explore queer experiences through family drama, animation, romantic storytelling, psychological tension, and genre filmmaking.

QCShorts International Showcases Southeast Asian Short Films

QCinema’s expanded QCShorts International competition brings together five QCinema-supported projects and short films from across Southeast Asia. The program is divided into four themed collections.

Program 1: At Night We Lead Different Lives

This collection explores transactional relationships and the hidden lives of people navigating desire, survival, and connection.

Filipino entries include Body Works by Maki Makilan, about a laid-off dishwasher who enters a paid romance, and Is This Desire? by Apa Agbayani, which follows an architect who encounters unsettling presences in a derelict mountain mansion.

The program also features And If Thuy Didn’t Exist, She Said, and Through the Cracks.

Program 2: A Little Blasphemy Never Hurt Anyone

These films examine faith, bodies, desire, and human relationships with animals through dark comedy, fantasy, and unconventional storytelling.

The Philippine entry Run Shirley Run! by Rodiell Veloso follows a suicidal manananggal whose conflicting halves trigger chaos when supernatural hunters and teenagers intervene.

Other selections include Bleat!, Fruit, The Bovine Comedy, and The Dream Is a Snail.

Program 3: All Our Mothers Were Once Girls

This collection explores motherhood, identity, family relationships, and women’s experiences across generations.

Grandmothering (Gandang Lola), by Kylechandler Bigay, follows a 67-year-old beautician who cares for her grandson while trying to reclaim her confidence through a beauty pageant. The film will make its Asian premiere at QCinema after screening at the Leeds International Film Festival.

The program also features Maanaa Kanimo, Sana’y Nandito Ka, and Singapore’s The 4PLY Clandestine System.

Program 4: The Mountains Always Ask for More

The final collection examines humanity’s relationship with nature, political histories, land exploitation, and the legacies of colonialism.

Philippine entries include Agsangit Laeng ti Al-alia (A Ghost Can Only Howl) by Carla Pulido Ocampo and They Made Monsters by Jaime Morados.

The program also features Indonesia’s Golden Island and Obscura, as well as Cambodia’s Incident on the Mountain.

International Cinema Takes Center Stage

QCinema’s exhibition sections expand the festival beyond its competitions, bringing acclaimed international productions, genre films, documentaries, and cinematic landmarks to local audiences.

Screen International

This section features notable international films that have attracted attention at major festivals.

Highlights include Fjord by Cristian Mungiu, a legal drama that won the Palme d’Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, and Fatherland by Pawe? Pawlikowski, a historical drama about writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika navigating postwar Germany.

The selection also includes A Long Winter, Makikiraan Po (Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors) by Lav Diaz, Nowhere to Lay My Eyes by Hong Sang-soo, The Beloved, The Diary of a Chambermaid, and Vintage Violence.

QC Selects

QC Selects brings together films QCinema chose for their distinctive perspectives and storytelling.

Filipino titles include 11 by Bebe Go, a drama-fantasy set during the COVID-19 lockdown, and I Grew an Inch When My Father Died by P.R. Monencillo Patindol, which follows two brothers coping with grief and complicated family loyalties.

The section also features The Remotes by John Torres, a science-fiction mystery thriller about a detective investigating automobile deaths linked to a mysterious app.

International selections include Club Kid, Fucktoys, IBUKU, The Tigers, and You Are the Film. The closing title, Look Back, completes the program.

Rediscovery: Restored Classics and Filipino Cinema

Rediscovery revisits landmark works that continue to influence filmmakers and audiences. The section features digitally restored films and selections curated by QCinema’s artistic director.

International highlights include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros, Andrzej Zulawski’s psychological horror film Possession, and Satoshi Kon’s animated thriller Perfect Blue.

Philippine cinema takes the spotlight through Batang West Side by Lav Diaz and Patay na si Hesus by Victor Villanueva.

The festival will also present a Focus On: Pete Lacaba program featuring two notable works: Jaguar by Lino Brocka, a crime drama that became the first Filipino film nominated for the Palme d’Or in Cannes’ main competition, and Sister Stella L. by Mike de Leon, a political drama about a nun who supports workers fighting for their rights.

Before Midnight: Genre Films for Thrill Seekers

Before Midnight caters to audiences looking for unconventional genre films, including action comedies, horror, mysteries, and psychological thrillers.

The lineup includes Arrested Memory by SABU, about an amnesiac detective investigating a kidnapping, and Chronovisor by Kevin Walker and Jack Auen, which revolves around secret technology capable of photographing the past.

Other titles include the horror-comedy I Love Paris, the crime drama Moonglow by Isabel Sandoval, and The Unknown by Arthur Harari, a psychological fantasy thriller about a photographer whose identity undergoes a mysterious transformation.

Dokyu Days Presents Documentaries From Around the World

Dokyu Days explores real-life stories through documentaries examining culture, politics, identity, science, and social issues.

Filipino filmmaker Khavn’s Bomba Bernal revisits the 1970s bomba films, examining their place in popular entertainment and artistic resistance during the Marcos dictatorship.

Another highlight is To the Moon and Back, which follows two young scientists from the Philippines and Morocco as they participate in an astronaut training workshop in Switzerland. The documentary explores their ambitions and the institutional barriers they face as they pursue space exploration.

The section also includes I Deserve a Lover Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies, The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer, and Union Town, which follows New York City delivery workers organizing for better working conditions.

QCinema 2026 Schedule, Venues, and Ticket Prices

The 14th QCinema International Film Festival runs from November 13 to 22, 2026, with screenings at the following venues:

• Gateway Cineplex 18
• Robinsons Movieworld Galleria
• Ayala Malls Cinemas TriNoma
• Fisher Box Office
• SM Cinema at SM City Fairview

All festival screenings cost PHP 200 per ticket. Moviegoers should check the official festival schedule for individual film screening dates, showtimes, venue assignments, and ticketing details.

For updates and additional information, visit qcinema.ph or follow @qcinemaph on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

With its mix of Filipino productions, international festival favorites, independent films, documentaries, and restored classics, QCinema 2026 offers audiences an opportunity to explore cinema beyond mainstream releases while celebrating Quezon City’s place on the international film scene.

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