Gabby Padilla, Tanya Gomez lead Sine Kabataan drama ‘When It Rained Malunggay Leaves’
Gabby Padilla, Tanya Gomez lead Sine Kabataan drama ‘When It Rained Malunggay Leaves’
SINEGANG.ph published this press release as sponsored by When It Rained Malunggay Leaves. No staff writer participated in writing this article.
Gabby Padilla and Tanya Gomez will lead the Sine Kabataan 2025 short film entry When It Rained Malunggay Leaves from writer-director Cedrick Valenzuela.
The film follows Ariel (Gabby Padilla), who returns home for Undas to reconnect with her mother, Anita (Tanya Gomez), after years of estrangement caused by a painful falling out.
As the two confront the silence and distance that have long stood between them, the film unfolds into a gentle but powerful meditation on memory, motherhood, and the longing to heal the ones who once hurt us.
"It's a film about healing from passed on wounds, by whatever means," said Valenzuela. "When I moved out of my parents' house, I began to realize how much healing my inner child needed.”
“That realization came with the understanding that my mom needed healing too. She was once a child, a teenager, a young adult in her twenties, but she never had the chance to tend to the wounds passed on to her, because she had to put her life on pause to raise me,” he added.
Valenzuela has been writing and directing short films for fun and with friends since 2017, and When It Rained Malunggay Leaves marks his official directorial debut — a film written in his twenties, made for the big screen, and shaped by the quiet ache of growing up.
The film is produced by Cy Igne of Komon Collective, a MAPÚA-based filmmaking group, in collaboration with Tarzeer Pictures, Black Cap Pictures, and TEN17P — the creative forces behind acclaimed works such as Dagitab, Phantosmia, and the short film The River That Never Ends.
When It Rained Malunggay Leaves will premiere this September at Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong as part of Sine Kabataan 2025 and the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino showcase - offering audiences a tender glimpse into the quiet and complicated process of healing and coming home.
