14th QCinema International Film Festival puts the spotlight on animation

The festival’s historic opening film, Ella Arcangel: The Battle of Tooth and Claw, directed by Mervin Malonzo is competing in the prestigious Asian Next Wave section.

Animation takes a triumphant leap into the spotlight at the 14th QCinema International Film Festival, perfectly embodying this year’s theme, Genre’teurs—a clever portmanteau of “genre” and “auteur.” By integrating animated works across three competitive sections, alongside a dedicated short film lineup and a beloved anime classic, QCinema is offering a much-larger, well-deserved platform for the medium. 

This programming underscores why animation is so vital: far from being confined to children's entertainment, it is a boundless cinematic art form. The limitless visual possibilities of animation grant filmmakers the ultimate freedom to bend reality, craft intricate worlds, and express deeply personal visions across any genre imaginable.

This philosophy is powerfully manifested in the festival’s historic opening film, Ella Arcangel: The Battle of Tooth and Claw. Directed by Mervin Malonzo and adapted from Julius Villanueva’s popular comic book series, this bracingly political feature proves the sheer storytelling weight animation can carry. Competing in the prestigious Asian Next Wave section, the film follows a pre-teen mambabarang (folk sorcerer) defending her slum community against supernatural forces. 

Featuring the voices of Bianca Umali and Michael V., Ella Arcangel uses the fantastical canvas of animation to pose a searing, real-world question about who the true monsters are in Filipino society.

In the New Horizons section, which highlights exciting debuts from around the world, Kohei Kadowaki’s We Are Aliens will be in contention. The film made its debut at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and follows the relationship between two boys who become friends in the third grade and gradually drift apart as social pressures change the nature of their interactions. Vibrantly animated, the film explores the casual cruelty that can emerge at a young age and how it can affect a person for far longer than one might imagine.

QCinema’s LGBTQIA+ section, RainbowQC, features Jim Queen by directors Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané. Winner of the Silver Audience Award at the 30th Fantasia International Film Festival, this wild, satirical film imagines a scenario in which a virus is turning queer men straight. The titular Jim, the six-packed leader of the Gym Queens, must team up with the newly out twink Lucien to save himself from a fate worse than death.

Animated films also have a presence in QCinema’s shorts competition, QCShorts International. Sana’y Nandito Ka by Clister Santos is one of this year’s five QCShorts grantees, receiving PHP 700,000 in production support from the festival. Santos is a graduate of CIIT College of Arts and Technology, and his 2023 debut short film, Ili Ili, won the top prize for animation at the CCP Gawad Alternatibo.

His film for QCinema is a 3D-animated slice-of-life drama following a young man who reunites with his estranged mother after six years. Sana’y Nandito Ka competes against eighteen other short films from across Asia.

Outside of competition, the Rediscovery section, where restored classics get their due, features Satoshi Kon’s masterwork Perfect Blue. The 1997 anime film is one of the most enduring works of the form, influencing filmmakers from around the world, including Darren Aronofsky, who paid homage to Kon in his own landmark film, Requiem for a Dream.

The oddly prescient Perfect Blue is a tale of internet paranoia, following an idol-turned-actor who loses touch with reality as she deals with online abuse from supposed fans and becomes the target of a stalker who seems intent on harming the people around her. Kon seemed to predict the potential harms of the internet, well before anyone could fully grasp how it would eventually be used.

By anchoring the Genre’teurs category with such a politically resonant and visually ambitious work, QCinema highlights how animation serves as both a dazzling spectacle and a profound vehicle for social critique, cementing its place at the vanguard of contemporary cinema.

The 14th QCinema International Film Festival runs from November 13 to 22, 2026, with screenings at Gateway Cineplex 18, Robinsons Movieworld Galleria, Ayala Malls TriNoma, Fisher Box Office, and SM Cinema – SM City Fairview. Tickets are priced at PHP 200. For more information, visit qcinema.ph or follow QCinema on social media at @qcinemaph for updates.