Arri Salvador

The Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video, commonly referred to as Gawad Alternatibo, remains a testament to the enduring power of alternative cinema as a space for voices that push, question, and reimagine. Across narrative, experimental, documentary, and animation short films, this year’s lineup brings together works that move away from familiar formulas and instead sit with stories that are often overlooked, uneasy, or hard to pin down. These films are grounded in lived experience, shaped by personal, political, and social realities, and made with an intent to question how stories are usually told. For 37 years, the Gawad Alternatibo continues to champion alternative filmmaking as a form of resistance.

‘Cinemalaya 21 Shorts’ bring out new and wild imaginations of our country.

CineSilip’s inaugural run celebrates a new wave of Filipino filmmakers unafraid to probe desire, morality, and eroticism in seven genre-spanning films that dare to challenge and provoke.

There’s an energizing quality to watching ‘Exit 8’ with a crowd or even with friends: the shared gasps, the laughs of relief, and the collective hunt for clues. It is communal, immersive horror done exactly how it should be.

While it doesn’t quite capture the magic of the original, the new ‘Lilo & Stitch’ still knows how to warm your heart and remind us what it feels to be a little lost and found.

Sosyal Climbers does what it sets out to do: deliver a fun, marketable rom-com that banks on chemistry, comedy, and the ever-relatable Filipino dream of financial stability.

‘Hold Me Close’ squanders its potential to explore the intersection of fate and personal choice, leaving audiences with surface-level concepts and underdeveloped characters.

‘Casa en llamas’ is rapid-fire storytelling at its finest — where clever dialogue ebbs and flows over picturesque views, disguising the deep fractures that lie underneath this Catalan family.

Unlike whimsical fairy tales where ‘happily ever after’ is tied neatly with a bow, 'The Amazing Maurice' unfolds a journey in between the gray areas of right and wrong.