SALU-SALO SA SINENG TRANS: A Transpinay Film Festival to be held at UPFI Videotheque this November 14-15
SINEGANG.ph published this press release by Society of Trans Women of the Philippines. No staff writer participated in writing this article.
Makisalo na sa STRAP! This coming Transgender Awareness Week, SALU-SALO SA SINENG TRANS: A Transpinay Film Festival brings together Transpinay communities, filmmakers, advocates, and allies for two days of free film screenings, conversations, and collective imagination at the UPFI Videotheque, UP Diliman. Organized by the Society of Trans Women of the Philippines (led by Education and Research Officer Julia Esber and DWDS Student Gio Potes) and in partnership with the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, UP Diliman Gender Office and the UP Film Institute, the festival offers a cinematic gathering that looks back at the histories of Transpinay representation, celebrates contemporary trans filmmaking, and imagines progressive liberatory futures for trans cinema.
Featuring short films, and documentary and narrative features, the program traces the shifting presence of Transpinays on Philippine screens:
🎬 November 14, 2026
UPFI Videotheque, UP Diliman
1:00 PM–5:00 PM
Sex Warriors and the Samurai (Nick Deocampo, 1995)
Dory (Beverly Ramos, 2019)
Kontesera (Ryand Ugalde, 2025)
Si Astri Maka Si Tambulah (Xeph Suarez, 2015)
Puno't Dulo ng Bahaghari (Kyle Millave, 2025)
Rampage (O ang Parada - Kukay Bautista Zinampan, 2024).
🎬 November 15, 2026
UPFI Videotheque, UP Diliman
1:00 PM–5:00 PM
Call Her Ganda (PJ Raval, 2018)
Lingua Franca (Isabel Sandoval, 2019)
Beyond the screenings, SALU-SALO SA SINENG TRANS opens spaces for conversation, community-building, and collective care. A talkback session moderated by the Feminist Media Lab invites audiences to reflect on the politics and possibilities of trans cinema, while the Binhi Board welcomes participants to pitch images and ideas they hope to see in future screenings. An exhibition by the Society of Trans Women of the Philippines (STRAP) will feature its organizational history and advocacy initiatives, including Project Kierra and Call Us By Our Names. The video essay Suki sa Tingi Tingi will also be presented as a looping installation examining the fragmentary representation of Transpinays in Philippine cinema.
On November 15, the festival culminates in the STRAP Forum on Trans Violence, bringing together resource speakers from STRAP and gender rights organizations to discuss the contemporary challenges posed by anti-gender and anti-rights movements in the Philippines, alongside strategies for collective protection, advocacy, and resistance.
Conceived as a salu-salo of stories, experiences, and shared possibilities, the festival imagines cinema not merely as a site of representation, but as a space for Transpinays to gather, rest, remember, and dream together. Amid the everyday struggles against cisnormative systems, SALU-SALO SA SINENG TRANS affirms the importance of community-led filmmaking and film culture grounded in care, solidarity, healing, and liberation.
All screenings are free of charge, but registration is required due to limited venue capacity. Interested audiences and participants may register through this link. Follow STRAP’s Facebook page for updates.
Makisalo na! Kitakits!
