Screenplay all the way: key highlights from QCinema Project Market 2025!

Quezon City Philippines — QCinema proudly inaugurates this year’s QCinema Project Market. This flagship platform aims to support Southeast Asian (SEA) and Filipino narrative films by connecting them to global producers and benefactors through presenting a series of project pitches.

Officially commencing the first day of QCinema Project Market (QPM) 2025 is Liza Diño, Managing Director of QCinema Industry. The hub allows for filmmakers to gain exposure and secure funding as they work on bringing their creative projects to the big screen. The Project Market will be hosting one-on-one meetings, project presentations, and networking events for the 21 selected projects — 12 from the Philippines and 9 from the rest of Southeast Asia — in mid to advanced development. This year, QPM received 60 projects, 36 of which came from the Philippines and 24 from Southeast Asia. 

An awards night will be commemorated on November 22, prizing jury-selected winners. The most anticipated will be the Quezon City Best Project Award valuing a grant of P1 million for the project that most exhibits cinematic excellence. The honorable jury of the 2025 QCinema Project Market includes Brad Liew and Manet Dayrit of the Philippines, Riina Sildos of Estonia, Ming-Jung Kuo of Taiwan, and Irene Soriano and Michael Werner of the United States. 

Backdropping the visionary project pitches, QCinema Industry’s Film Market also continues on its third consecutive day to foster industry partnerships. Among this year’s collaborator selection to offer support for the filmmakers are Central Digital Lab, CreaZion Studios, Cine Canawili Productions Inc., Epicmedia Productions, Inc., and FBN Media Production.

Navigating new ideas and joint ventures 

Local and global production houses, studios, and contributors lent their ears at 30-minute one-on-one meetings with the enthusiastic filmmakers. Consecutively, the twenty finalists delivered a strong 8-minute pitch to the 2025 QCinema Project Market jury behind closed doors. 

1. The Void is Immense in Idle Hours (Philippines) - (Dir. Sam Manacsa; Prod. Chad Cabigon, Carlo Francisco Manatad)

The Voice is Immense in Idle Hours follows a nineteen-year-old saleslady, Rosemary, with big dreams of becoming a singer as her life suddenly takes a turn. The story is prompted by her witnessing the sudden raid and disappearance of a sixteen-year-old boy after work. She meets Agnes, a hairdresser and the boy’s mother, as they join to search for her son. The two bond as they navigate through their shared grief and guilt in a world where violence petrifies others to the point of keeping them silent.

2. The River Knows Our Names (Có Dòng Sông Biết)  (Vietnam) - (Dir. Mai Huyền Chi; Prod. Thy Trang)

Living on a Mekong houseboat, nine-year-old Gam longs to celebrate her own birthday party after coming across a boy from the city. Her father then takes on more jobs to help fulfill his daughter’s dream, subjecting the family to sobering realizations of the struggles caused by displacement and ecological collapse. This family drama explores what it means to live a life as an undocumented person with no trace to their name. 

3. KOMIXXX (Philippines) - (Dir. Jopy Arnaldo; Prod. KC Contrevida)

Nash, a director in his thirties, meets soft porn actress Miki while working on a project together in Japan. A friendship blossoms between the two when they bump into each other after hooking up at a wrap party. They decide to collaborate and create an erotic comic that channels their greatest skills. Centering on a director and actress aspiring to make it big, it begs to ask the question: what if our dreams don’t love us back?

4. Luzonensis Floresiensis (Philippines) - (Dir. Glenn Barit; Prod. Kristine De Leon)

Inspired by the found archaic bones of the Homo luzonensis in the Philippines and the 

Homo floresiensis in the Philippines, this story follows a Luzonensis migrant caveman and Floresiensis cavewoman searching for evidence of their ancestral past. As it studies the special kinships between Filipinos and Indonesians, the screenplay explores their precolonial past and postcolonial present.

5. Dear Wormwood (Philippines) - (Dir. Dodo Dayao; Prod. Patti Lapus, Sherad Anthony Sanchez)

This psychedelic, apocalyptic horror tale is evoked by a mother and botanist, Bionic, killed in 1999 as she is resurrected with a cursed touch. She comes into contact with Renata, a fellow mother living with three exiled women in the mountains. The film raises doubts of divine nature and limitations of miracles, stretching the timelines of two different worlds.

6. Dancing Gale (Indonesia) - (Dir. Sammaria Sari Simanjuntak; Prod. Lies Nanci Supangkat)

Living in the lands of the world’s largest supervolcano Toba, Uli calls on the supernatural after losing her daughter in a sudden accident. She uses a wooden doll to bring her back, breaking the laws of Mother Nature. Uli’s devotion to her child angers the Earth, causing destruction to fall around her as she grapples with the realities of life, love, and letting go.

7. Sentinel (Philippines) - (Dir. Carl Joseph E. Papa; Prod. Geo Lomuntad)

Five interconnected stories in this rotoscope animation uncovers a school’s deepest secrets when a transferee witnesses a military hazing incident. When the student decides to write an article on the subject, he is faced with the complications and risks of publishing a controversial exposé. Uncovering a narrative of violence within educational institutions, Sentinel presents a moral dilemma motivated by guilt, abuse, and fear.

 

8. What’s Left Of Us (Philippines) - (Dir. Tyrone Acierto; Prod. Wilfredo Manalang)

Set in the height of global collapse caused by a neurological brain condition that erases memory, mass hysteria ensues as people are faced with the fear of losing all that they know. When it is discovered that inducing physical harm on the body can prevent this from happening, it unleashes a violent wave that questions how far people would go to survive. Memory is a person’s history and identity; losing it means losing who you are.

 

9. There Is, There Isn’t (Meron, Wala) (Philippines) - (Dir. Arjanmar H. Rebeta; Prod. Khaye Medina)

This gritty story follows veteran cockfighter Migo surrounded by the pressures of this world of gambling and poverty. A web of deceit and violence is revealed after his colleagues witness a string of disappearances within their circle, which eventually includes his only son. It chronicles one of the many tales of Philippine desaparecidos (the disappeared) and the turmoil of their families in search for truth and justice.

 

10. JOLLYWOOD (Philippines) - (Dir. Khavn; Prod. Achinette Villamor)

Rony is a viral content creator living in the slums of Manila with his hardworking family of TikTokers and slumlords. As he discovers his dreams of becoming a nurse, Rony ponders between the choice of chasing that dream or pursuing his family’s hustles. The film exhibits the worsening urban housing crisis of the Philippines, while urging the audience to reflect on the content we consume and create.

 

11. Amateur (Philippines) - (Dir. Dan Villegas; Prod. Antoinette Jadaone)

In a blood-pumping sports thriller, the film follows MVP basketball player Rome Alcantara as he strives to keep his dreams alive. After a gutting finals loss, he is faced with high-risk deals that threaten his place as a rising star. The drama spirals into a man’s mind obsessed with his craft while questioning the heroism attached to the sport.

 

12. Daddy Cool (Philippines) - (Dir. Dominic Bekaert; Prod. Clémentine Comoy and Sarge Lacuesta)

In the midst of Martial Law, Dee successfully rises from a middle class secretary to a leading lady in business, eventually becoming one of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s cronies. While rivaling her former boss Vicky, they find themselves involved with a gigolo, flickering a love triangle that examines their hunger for power. 

13. Ghost of the Currents (ผีเงือก (Phee-Nguek)) (Thailand) - (Dir. Patiparn Boontarig; Prod. Napakarn Boontarig)

Moving to the Mekong riverside after a devastating flood, Tee discovers that the culprit behind the disaster is a Naga spirit worried about a dam choking the river’s stream. The environmental horror calls awareness towards the Mekong River dams that directly destroys ecosystems beyond borders. 

14. Jaguar (Philippines) - (Dir. Dean Colin Marcial; Prod. Braden Friedman and Bam Manlongat)

Condominium security guard Bowie becomes a quiet observer of dirty secrets as he witnesses an altercation between billionaire Armie and his girlfriend Sam. When Sam’s dead body is found the next day, Bowie faces his biggest moral dilemmas in the streets of crime-filled Manila.

15. Ozzy and Onnie (Philippines) - (Dir. Jaime Pacena II; Prod. Angel Tomas, Dan Villegas, and Jaime Pacena II)

Mass Communication student Ozzy and student activist Onie burn a romance in the setting of 1996 Manila. Anxious between Ozzy’s religious family and Onie’s politically-driven parent, the tensions within the romance culminate inside their bar of sanctuary.

16. Penumbra (Singapore) - (Dir. Russell Morton; Prod. Sophia Sim and Jeremy Chua)

When Raj washes ashore after escaping an island prison, he finds himself navigating the complicated shades of guilt when taken in by an old man named Awang. Inspired by the sounds of Bangsawan and tales of Malayan mythology, Penumbra illuminates the shadows we hope to keep hidden.

17. Ray of Light (Thailand) - (Dir. Nontawat Numbenchapol; Prod. Awat Ratanapintha)

The screenplay details a rising young actress resisting the pressures of achieving perfection while working on her newest film. Teetering on the edge of reality, she finds solace in an older lighting technician who has borne the brunt of the industry’s exploitation. Together, they find refuge in each other’s company surrounded by the world built on ideals.

18. Romdoul, the evening of fragrance (រំដួល) (Cambodia) - (Dir. Lomorpich Rithy; Prod. Laura Tevary Mam)

Raksa, a young journalist seeking to cover the war, journeys to the border of Preah Vihear where she meets her estranged mother and bitter grandmother. Beholding the sights of the conflict, the three women waft through the wounds of loss, lingering in hopes of healing and survival. 

19. Strange Root (Keinginan) (Singapore) - (Dir. Lam Li Shuen and Mark Chua; Prod. Tan Bee Thiam, Looi Wan Ping, Meiske Taurisia, Roshanak Behesht Nedjad, and Anouk Sluizer)

Set in 1024 AD Singapore, yam-borne demigod Akshat grapples with the arrival of a shipwrecked beast that displaces his authority on his island. The regional fantasy-horror touches on authoritarian paranoia as the villagers, once loyal to the demigod, grow enamored with the foreign beast.

20. The Willing (Rela) (Malaysia) - (Dir. Joon Goh; Prod. Zarul Albakric)

Life’s arduous circumstances bring together seventeen-year-old Saleha and Indonesian migrant Bago in a companionship of pop songs and city dreams. However, as reality pushes them to rebellion and addiction, the budding romance faces a crossroads between choosing each other or choosing oneself. 

21. When the World is Paused (ဆုံမှတ်) (Myanmar) - (Dir. Han Thit Htoo Aung; Prod. Pyae Zaw Phyo)

The lives of two fated humans once again converge when Than Sin wakes up from a years-long coma, eager to see Nyein, whose prophetic dreams strengthen when they reunite. The film plays with the thematic backdrop of youth defiance against a system of despair, following an emotional connection tethered to love, memory, and courage.

All projects then pitched privately to the QPM Selection Committee for both days of the project market. 

The winning projects will be announced on November 22, 2025 at the QPM Awards Night.