The Active Vista Human Rights Festival opened its 13th iteration on 19 September with the theme “Trese” (13), reclaiming the number often tied to malas (bad luck) to confront the real curses haunting Filipino lives: systemic corruption, repression and impunity.

More than superstition, the festival attempts to reveal how narratives of misfortune have long been weaponized, making people accept poverty as destiny, violence as protection and silence as survival. Active Vista challenges this deception and reminds Filipinos that oppression is not fate but a system designed to be resisted.

“‘Trese’ is our way of naming the curses that have long haunted us — corruption, impunity, repression — and declaring that we will not be defined by them. Through stories, films and collective imagination, the festival opens a space for Filipinos to refuse this systemic gaslighting and reclaim our power,” said Alex Poblete, festival director of the Active Vista Human Rights Festival.

A national platform

Active Vista Human Rights Festival: Trese presents a rich line-up of films, forums, performances and interactive events that put human rights issues at the center of cultural expression. It extends beyond Metro Manila through satellite festivals in Calabarzon, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Cagayan de Oro, Los Baños, San Pablo and Rizal — amplifying regional voices and weaving a national tapestry of remembrance and resistance.

Stories on screen and stage

The program opened on 19 September at Shangri-La Cinema 3 with Lav Diaz’s Magellan, the Philippines’ official entry to the 2026 Oscars. On 23 September, the CSB Atrium Lobby will host Sa Pagbaba ng Luksa, a collective remembrance ritual exploring memory and healing. Later in the week, Drag Me to Court! brought laughter, pride, and protest to Harong Café on 26 September, as drag artists and open mic performers took the stage to spotlight LGBTIQ+ voices. The celebration will conclude on 28 September at Sine Pop with the Frames Awards Night, recognizing the finest works in the Filipino Shorts Competition.

Complementing these flagship events were forums held from 22 to 26 September at Co. Lab in Teacher’s Village, Quezon City, under the banner of the Frames SEA Exhibitions. These conversations tackle pressing themes — labor rights, climate and environment, digital freedoms, women’s struggles and queer issues — through both dialogue and art, offering audiences ways to connect cultural expression with lived realities.

The screenings began on 19 September with two thematic collections of short films: “Frames: EJK,” confronting the drug war and extrajudicial killings, and “Frames: Inequality,” which examined class divides and struggles for justice.

On 20 September, Alyx Ayn Arumpac’s multi-awarded Aswang screened at the UP Film Institute (UPFI), a haunting documentary that exposed the social toll of Rodrigo Duterte’s “drug war” and made history as the first documentary to win Best Film at the 2021 Gawad Urian. That same day, Sine Pop hosted Climate Story Lab Shorts, presenting narratives of resilience and struggle from climate storytellers, while online audiences had access to Karl Malakunas’ Delikado, a gripping account of Palawan land defenders resisting corruption, corporate land-grabbing, and ecological destruction — an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Investigative Documentary.

From 22 to 24 September, Jeannette Ifurung’s 11,103 travels to campuses including Miriam College, Far Eastern University, and the University of Santo Tomas, capturing survivor stories of state violence during Martial Law, where exactly 11,103 victims were officially recognized and compensated for torture, rape, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.

On 24 September, two powerful films will screen at UPFI: Julia Bacha’s Naila and the Uprising, which chronicled the role of Palestinian women in the First Intifada, and Babyruth Villarama’s Food Delivery, a documentary on Filipino fisherfolk and coast guard personnel resisting incursions in the West Philippine Sea. The latter, which won the Tides of Change Award at New Zealand’s Doc Edge Festival, resonates deeply with current struggles for sovereignty and survival.

The following day, 25 September, UPFI will host Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, Brazil’s Oscar-winning political biopic on the fight for justice against forced disappearances under military rule. Alongside it will screen Ditsi Carolino’s Bunso, a harrowing look into the lives of children imprisoned with adult criminals, exposing how poverty and neglect compound violations of children’s rights.

On 27 September, the festival will turn its gaze to the creative process with Works-in-Progress at Sine Pop in Quezon City. This unique program invites audiences to engage with unfinished films and their filmmakers, creating a rare space for dialogue and collaboration. The lineup includes Nonilon Abao’s Bloom Where You Are Planted, following three land rights activists in Cagayan Valley navigating home, terror and red-tagging, and She Andes’ Bariles, which tells the story of tuna fishermen confronting the existential threat of warming seas and vanishing livelihoods.

13 years of resistance

Since its founding in 2008, the festival has transformed human rights education into a cultural landmark that ignites conversations on freedom and justice in cinemas, galleries, and public squares.

As the festival continues to confront these forces across the country, Poblete reminds: “We refuse to be branded as cursed. Trese reminds us that misfortune is not destiny — it is designed by oppressive systems, and it can be dismantled by collective action.”