From November 13 to 2023, the QCinema International Film Festival returns for 10 days of ambitious filmmaking, genre experiments, and international discoveries.
When the QCinema International Film Festival 2026 opens its 14th edition on November 13, 2026, Quezon City will spend 10 days treating moviegoing as a perfectly respectable hangout. The festival runs through November 22 at Gateway Cineplex 18, Robinsons Movieworld Galleria, Ayala Malls Cinemas TriNoma, Fisher Box Office, and SM City Fairview. Its programmers have organized the whole lineup under a curatorial concept called Genre’teurs, a mash-up of genre and auteur that gives the schedule its marching orders.
READ ALSO: A Month Of French Cinema: What To Watch At The 29th French Film Festival
QCinema 2026: The Big Picture
The city brings some credentials to the job, since UNESCO has named it a Creative City of Film, one of only two in Southeast Asia to hold the title. The festival opens with the world premiere of the animated feature Ella Arcangel: Ballad of Tooth and Claw, which Mervin Malonzo adapted from Julius Villanueva’s comics after winning a QCinema Project Market’s co-production grant in 2023. Hirokazu Kore-eda closes things out with Look Back, his live-action take on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s acclaimed manga, so the festival begins and ends with adaptations of drawn stories.
Malonzo’s film also competes in “Asian Next Wave,” the festival’s main competition, which features seven entries including Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples to Heaven, Zou Jing’s A Girl Unknown, and Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s The Burning Giants. New Horizons gathers debuts and second features from directors working in Cameroon, Lebanon, Mexico, Canada, India, and elsewhere. Its titles include House of the Wind, Furies, Sad Girlz, and We Are Aliens. “RainbowQC,” the festival’s LGBTQIA+ section, counts Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma among its eight films.
The shorts competition pairs the festival’s five QCinema grantees with filmmakers from across Southeast Asia and spreads them over four programs with names like At Night We Lead Different Lives, A Little Blasphemy Never Hurt Anyone, and The Mountains Always Ask for More. Individual entries include Run Shirley Run!, The Bovine Comedy, and They Made Monsters.
Beyond The Mainstream
Outside the competitions, “Screen International” gives local audiences a look at some of the year’s most talked-about titles, with new work from Andrew Haigh, Paweł Pawlikowski, Cristian Mungiu, Hong Sang-soo, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Radu Jude, and Lav Diaz. QC Selects features Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, Annapurna Sriram’s Fucktoys, and John Torres’s The Remotes, while pairing four Filipino and Japanese titles into two double bills.
Film history gets its turn in “Rediscovery,” where restored prints of Amores Perros, Possession, and Perfect Blue share a section with Lav Diaz’s Batang West Side and Victor Villanueva’s Patay na si Hesus. A tribute to Filipino writer and screenwriter Pete Lacaba adds Lino Brocka’s Jaguar and Mike de Leon’s Sister Stella L. Moviegoers who prefer their screenings after dark can head to “Before Midnight,” which promises everything from action-packed dark comedy to supernatural horror and includes SABU’s Arrested Memory, Isabel Sandoval’s Moonglow, and Arthur Harari’s The Unknown. Dokyu Days rounds out the exhibition sections with documentaries such as Barbara Kopple’s Union Town, Khavn’s Bomba Bernal, and You Can See Everything from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
Anyone who’d rather skip the cineplex can catch a free outdoor screening of Magic Kingdom, subtitled The Legend of Damortis, directed by Lore Reyes and Peque Gallaga, at the Quezon Memorial Circle.
Every other screening costs a discounted ₱200, and tickets go on sale through the festival’s cinema partners. Stay updated on QCinema through qcinema.ph and on @qcinemaph across Facebook, Instagram, and X.
Banner photo features a film still from Possession (1981), all photos courtesy of QCinema
Frequently Asked Questions
The 14th QCinema International Film Festival runs from November 13 to 22, 2026, for 10 days of film screenings across Quezon City.
Screenings will be held at Gateway Cineplex 18, Robinsons Movieworld Galleria, Ayala Malls Cinemas TriNoma, Fisher Box Office, and SM City Fairview. A free outdoor screening of Magic Kingdom will also take place at Quezon Memorial Circle.
The festival’s curatorial concept is Genre’teurs, a combination of the words genre and auteur. It brings together filmmakers who explore different genres and approaches to storytelling.
The lineup includes the animated Filipino feature Ella Arcangel: Ballad of Tooth and Claw, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Look Back, and international titles such as Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Club Kid, and Fucktoys. The festival will also screen restored classics like Amores Perros, Possession, and Perfect Blue.
Regular QCinema 2026 screenings cost PHP 200. Tickets are available through the festival’s cinema partners, while the outdoor screening of Magic Kingdom: The Legend of Damortis at Quezon Memorial Circle is free.
