Sulo: The Philippine Studies Initiative at NYU and the NYU Espacio de Culturas are pleased to present an evening of shorts and conversation with New York-based Filipino and Filipino American Filmmakers whose films have won recognition as winners and/or finalists in festivals in New York, Manila, and elsewhere.
Date: Friday, March 21, 2025 at 6:30 pm
Venue: NYU Espacio de Culturas | 53 Washington Sq S, NYC 10012
RSVP Link: https://bit.ly/panawin-s25
This film screening is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
The program features:
APA AGBAYANI
When the House Lights Come On/Abutan Man Tayo ng House Lights (2023, 12m)
A chance encounter between two ex-lovers aging out of the Manila gay rave scene turns into a night of self-revelations and decision.
Finalist: QCinema, VC, San Diego filmfests; Urian & Society of Filipino Film Reviewers Awards
Somewhere All the Boys are Birds (2023, 11m)
Benjie’s obsession with long-dead Filipino movie star Jaime Reyes leads him to the rooftop where the actor killed himself. Here, he summons Jaime’s ghost for a conversation.
Finalist: NY Newfest
IDA DEL MUNDO
A Blaan Lullaby / Gonon Klukab Tumabaga (2024, 7m)
This Blaan lullaby, literally meaning My Childhood Gong, pays tribute to a local instrument and a river inhabited by the divine.
Anna, Greta, Sophie & the Rainforest (2021, 6m)
Three generations of women use technology and memory to discover love and humanity in a desolate, dystopian wasteland.
Winner: Films for the Forest – Best Narrative Short
Never Forget (2022, 15m)
Vera, a Filipina-American New Yorker hires Jhason, a Filipino nurse, to help take care of her estranged father, Pablo, who has been diagnosed with dementia. As Pablo’s memory fades, a dark secret that he has been trying to forget resurfaces.
Winner: SVA filmfest – Best Screenplay, FACINE – Best Actress, IFFM – Best Ensemble; London Native Spirit filmfest – Opening Night film; Finalist: Urian Awards and San Diego, Boden, Toronto filmfests; Official Selection: Cinemalaya
ANDREW STEPHEN LEE
Manila is Full of Men Named Boy (2018, 20m)
Manila, July 7, 2009. As Michael Jackson’s televised funeral plays throughout the country despite terrorist attacks in the south, an estranged son buys a child to impress his father.
Winner: Best Short Film at Cinema One, Palm Springs, Dresden film festivals; Finalist: Venice, Atlanta, Hamptons, SxSW, Singapore, Clermont-Ferrand filmfests, and at FAMAS & Urian awards
ENRICO PO
Out of Body (2020, 15m)
A young model is coerced into a macabre commercial shoot.
Finalist: Cinemalaya
Curator’s Notes
The program offers a selection of short films by New-York based Filipino and Filipino American writer/directors who have made a mark in the burgeoning Philippine indie film scene. Featured are winners or finalists at major Philippine indie film festivals Cinemalaya, Cinema One, and QCinema; along with other shorts by these filmmakers.
To cap the evening, we will hold a conversation with the filmmakers, all of whom have studied in New York’s major film schools: New York University (Enrico Po), School of Visual Arts (Ida del Mundo), and Columbia University (Apa Agbayani & Stephen Lee).
The shorts tackle diverse social and universal issues, from workplace exploitation, child trafficking, celebrity obsession, political oppression, existential themes on aging, climate change, and that perennial, love.
The settings range from the rooftops and apartments of New York City to the commercial and rave scenes of Manila, from a dystopian future to the remote dwelling place of an indigenous group in Mindanao.
The conversation will explore how the filmmakers’ Philippine backgrounds have contributed to their creative processes and themes. All born either in the Philippines or elsewhere in the US before moving to New York City, how has the creative rough and tumble of gotham transformed their views of cinema and its place in society?
All have managed to shoot films both in the Philippines and New York City. What are the notable differences about making films in either place? Which Philippine (and Philippine diaspora) films have instructed and inspired them as filmmakers and their views of the world? What instructive coping and creative interventions have they developed from working in such diverse environments? The evening hopes to illuminate how culture and art may be shaped and enhanced by immigration, diverging histories, synergy and transformation.
— Gil Quito
About the Directors
APA AGBAYANI branched out from publishing essays and reportage for magazines to directing music videos for indie artists in the Philippines before training his sights on narrative filmmaking. Currently, he’s finishing an MFA in Film (Screenwriting & Directing) at Columbia University.
Apa was one of the recipients of the New Voices Filmmaker Grant from Newfest/Netflix in 2024. His latest short When the House Lights Come On received the QCShorts production grant and premiered at the QCinema int’l filmfest in 2023. Apa’s previous shorts are Somewhere All the Boys Are Birds (2023), which premiered at NewFest 35 in New York, and We Kept Warm (2021), which was released online via Tarzeer Pictures.
Born in Quezon City, Apa graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a BA in Communications, minor in Philosophy. His essays and reportage have gained an attentive readership in such publications as Vogue, Preview, Young Star, Rogue, Man Philippines, NoliSoli, and CNN Philippines.
IDA ANITA DEL MUNDO’s first film, K’na, the Dreamweaver, premiered at the 2014 Cinemalaya Film Festival where it received the Special Jury Prize. The narrative feature-length film was performed in the T’boli language and is the first feature film made about the T’boli people of South Cotabato, Mindanao.
She is an active member of the Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC) and is a documentary filmmaking instructor with the Educational Video Center in New York City. Born in Iowa City, Ida has a Bachelor’s degree in Literature and MFA in Creative Writing, both from De La Salle University-Manila. She was also violinist for the Manila Symphony Orchestra. She recently graduated with a Masters in Film Directing at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Her latest films include Never Forget (2022); Anna, Greta, Sophie, and the Rainforest (2021); and the documentary Brocka x Bernal (2024)
ANDREW STEPHEN LEE majored in Film at Loyola Marymount University. He closely assisted Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg for three years before pursuing an MFA in film at Columbia University. His first-year film, TOUCH, premiered at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival and also played in the 2016 International Competition at Clermont-Ferrand. Born in San Francisco, he drew on his Philippine background to film his thesis, Manila is Full of Men Named Boy, which premiered at the 2018 Venice Film Festival.
Stephen has taught courses in film production at Temple University and Purchase College, and is currently a faculty member at Columbia University in the Graduate Film program.
ENRICO PO graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, with a BA in Film. He returned to his native Manila where he worked on various commercial, narrative and documentary projects. Enrico has also worked as contributing writer for Esquire magazine.
His short film Out of Body premiered at the 2020 Cinemalaya Film Festival. His latest short is currently in post-production.
Since returning to the US, he has worked on projects for Lagarto Productions, Cinetic Media, Daluyong Studios, Complex and HBO.