Kenneth Dagatan
DirectorJunxiang Huang, Bradley Liew
ProducerPhilippines
CountryLogline
Set in a sleepy, rainy town in Southern Italy. CESAR, a Filipino immigrant (53) lives with his local Italian wife, AGNES (55). When they meet a mysterious young Filipino man named ANTHONY who places a curse on them with the help of a Filipino Duwende (demonic forest imp), Agnes’ life turns into a nightmare of physical decay, marked by mold-infested necrotic skin patches and terrifying body transformations.
Cesar must race against time to reverse the curse before completely consumes them.
Short Synopsis
In the outskirts of Italy, a 53 year-old Filipino immigrant named CESAR lives with his Italian wife AGNES (55) in their affluent house. Despite their age, they're still in love, and full of vigor. On Agnes' birthday, Cesar hosts a large party at their home for both the Italian and Filipino communities. During the celebration, the couple meets ANTHONY, a young Filipino man in his twenties who claims to have just graduated from a university in Italy. He is staying with one of Cesar's Filipino friends while looking for work. During the party, Anthony sneaks off and wanders through Cesar and Agnes' house, where he bites his hand and leaves a bloodstain on their foyer before leaving.
The next day, Anthony visits the couple uninvited and continues to show up until he convinces them to let him stay in their home. Over time, Anthony becomes a constant presence they can’t avoid. At the same time, a bloodstain in their foyer mysteriously transforms into mold, which begins to spread throughout their house.
Things escalate when Anthony disappears and Agnes starts developing strange mold-infested necrotic patches on her skin. Soon, her own body begins to terrifyingly rearrange itself as the mold spreads. Her arms start to transform into feet, feet turn into hands. She starts vomiting sewage water, and flies creeping out from under her skin. Skin starts to cover her eyes, nose and ears. Cesar discovers that Anthony has made a deal with a Filipino ‘duwende’ (demonic forest imp) to curse Agnes.
As Agnes’ condition gets worse, Cesar races against time to reverse the curse and save his wife.
Kenneth Dagatan
KENNETH DAGATAN is a Manila-based writer and director, originally from Cebu.
In 2023, Kenneth became one of the international breakout filmmakers of the year with his World War 2 horror film: “In My Mother’s Skin” which premiered at the Midnight Section of the Sundance Film Festival (the first Filipino film to screen in this section) to widespread critical acclaim. The film was a landmark coproduction: with it being the first Philippines-Singapore-Taiwan coproduction and the first film to be funded by government funding arms of all 3 countries (FDCP - Film Development Council of The Philippines, IMDA - Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority, TAICCA - Taiwan Creative Content Agency). The film was acquired by Amazon and was ranked #6 in Variety’s Top Horror Films of 2023.
Junxiang Huang
Bradley Liew
Epicmedia Productions Inc. is a Philippine production company.
Notable credits include Truong Minh Quy’s ‘Viet and Nam’ (Cannes Un Certain Regard), ‘Directors Factory Philippines’ (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight), Kenneth Dagatan’s ’In My Mother’s Skin’ (Sundance Midnight Section) which sold to Amazon, ‘Nocebo’ (the first Ireland-UK-Philippines coproduction) by Lorcan Finnegan starring Eva Green and Mark Strong, ‘That Thing Called Tadhana’ (one of the highest grossing independent films in Philippine’s box office history) and for Lav Diaz’s ‘A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery’ (Berlinale Silver Bear Winner), ‘Season Of The Devil’ (Berlinale Competition), the ARTE supported ‘When The Waves Are Gone’ (Venice Out of Competition) and ‘Essential Truths of The Lake’ (Locarno Competition).
Epicmedia places special focus on collaborations within the Southeast Asian region, co-producing Southeast Asian titles like Pham Ngoc Lan’s ‘Cu Li Never Cries’ (Berlinale Best First Feature) and Mouly Surya’s upcoming ‘This City Is A Battlefield’.