SHORTS by LAV DIAZ
Sulo: The Philippine Studies Initiative at NYU, NYU Espacio de Culturas, and New York Southeast Asia Network are pleased to present An Evening of Shorts by Lav Diaz.
Date: Friday, December 5, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Venue: NYU Espacio de Culturas | 53 Washington Sq S, NYC 10012
RSVP Link: https://bit.ly/panawin-f25
Total Running Time: 1hr 40min
This film screening is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
A “Lav Diaz Short” may sound like an oxymoron for worldwide admirers of the Filipino master writer/director, better known for his feature films that run as long as 11 hours. Panawin/Visions presents an opportunity to explore another facet of the artist’s prolific output with this program of some of his short films, with running times from an hour to as brief as 2 minutes. As with his more known feature films, the shorts find him pushing the boundaries of cinematic form while exploring themes of collective trauma, expiation, enigma, and transcendence.
The films in the program, with their variety of form and subject matter, run a gamut from the experimental (as in “The Day Before the End” and “The Boy Who Chose Earth”) to the contemplative (“Prologue to the Great Desaparecido”); from the random shot (“The Firefly”) to rigorous narrative (“Butterflies Have no Memories”).
The shorts also contain a broad diversity of moods, from the lament of a woman endlessly searching for her husband killed during the Philippine revolution, to the playful and absurdist responses of Shakespeare-spouting poets facing the endless cycle of natural disasters that has become part of life in the Philippines (abetted by government corruption as recent events have thrown into stark profile); from the tiktok-like compilation of reaction shots of people watching a film on their devices during the covid lockdown to the chilling dissection of corruption and hopelessness in a mining town exhausted and abandoned by exploiters that cared only for profit.
All in all, the shorts show an artist always willing to take risks in finding new ways that cinema can express persistent psychic wounds or fleeting experiences. They could also provide insights into Diaz’s unorthodox creative processes that have surprised, and every so often mystified, cineastes who have seen a number of his celebrated long-form features. The latest of these is the period epic Magellan, starring Gael Garcia Bernal in the title role, which will be released theatrically by Janus in New York City at the IFC Center on January 9 and is the Philippines’ entry to the upcoming Oscars.
Shorts (in program order):
Prologue to the Great Desaparecido / Prologo sa Ang Dakilang Desaparecido (2013, 31m)
In the late 1890s, Gregoria de Jesus searches for the body of her husband Andres Bonifacio in the mountains after he was executed by rival revolutionaries under the opportunist Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine revolution against Spanish colonial rule.
Himala: A Dialectic of Our Times / Himala: Isang Dayalektika ng Ating Panahon (2020, 8m)
During the covid lockdown, different people, mostly alone, watch on their laptops or cel phones the classic film Himala (written by Ricky Lee and directed by Ishmael Bernal), absorbing the film’s discourse on the yearning for miracles in a corrupt society.
The Boy Who Chose the Earth (2018, 2m)
A boy surrounded by books searches for the source of a letter and finds a sunny day turning into a flooded night.
The Day Before the End / Ang Araw Bago ang Wakas (2016, 17m)
As a storm approaches then flood waters rise, aspiring poets spouting random verses from Shakespeare roam the streets.
The Firefly / Ang Alitaptap (2013, 2m)
A glimpse of an old man walking slowly on a cobbled European street inspires a poem.
Butterflies Have No Memories / Walang Alaala ang mga Paruparo (2009, 60m)
After a mining village is exhausted and abandoned by foreign interests, corruption creeps among the villagers and leads to a senseless tragedy in the forest.
About the director:
Lav Diaz, known for the epic and contemplative nature of his films, is the most internationally acclaimed Philippine filmmaker. His works include Batang West Side (Gawad Urian Best Picture), Melancholia (Venice Orizzonti Best Film), Norte: The End of History (Cannes Un Certain Regard Official Selection), From What Is Before (Locarno Golden Leopard), Death in the Land of Encantos (Venice Orizzonti Special Mention), Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mysteries (Silver Bear at Berlin where Jury President Meryl Streep said: “This man: He changed the molecules of my brain.”), Genus Pan (Venice Orizzonti Best Director) and The Woman Who Left (Venice Golden Lion for Best Film). Most recently, his Megallan, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, won Best Film at the Valladolid Film Festival after its acclaimed premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Major Lav Diaz retrospectives have been held in several cities, including New York (Film Society of Lincoln Center), Brisbane (Australian Cinematheque), Seoul (Korean Film Archive), São Paulo, and Paris (Jeu de Paume).
Diaz is the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Prince Claus Award of the Netherlands, and Harvard University’s Radcliffe Fellowship. Diaz accepted the invitation for membership by The American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. He has received the Lifetime Achievement awards from the Filipino Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Gawad Urian. The laurels have failed to lull Diaz into blissful repose. He continues to shuttle between homes in Queens, New York, and Marikina, Metromanila, and his output remains as prodigious as ever.
Two of Diaz’s most famous films — Norte: The End of History and The Woman Who Left— are available on DVD/Blu-ray at the NYU Library and the New York Public Library. Lav Diaz fans are anticipating an eventual Criterion Blu-ray release of Magellan.
— Gil Quito, Curator