Mark your calendars. From 14 to 23 November, cinephiles are in for 10 days of arthouse cinema. QCinema, the international film festival conceived in Quezon City, is bringing home a lineup of critically acclaimed titles that have premiered in prestigious festivals around the world — sure to delight Filipino film lovers.

At the recent mediacon, festival director Ed Lejano announced that all screenings for this year’s 13th edition will be priced at only P250 per ticket — a bargain, considering that regular movie tickets now cost between P400 and P700.

This year’s festival, themed “Film City,” will be held across six venues — Gateway, Eastwood, Trinoma, Fisher Mall, Cloverleaf, and Robinsons Galleria. It features four competition sections (films vying for awards) and six exhibition sections, for a total of 66 films, including 21 shorts. Of these, nine are purely Filipino productions — three full-length features and six shorts.

My personal picks

I went through my Letterboxd watchlist to see which of my most-anticipated titles made it to the lineup. Unfortunately, Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier), Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos), and Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi) didn’t make the cut.

Aside from the six Filipino shorts that received QCShorts 2025 grants and the opening film Couture by Alice Winocour, starring Angelina Jolie, here are the ten films I’m most looking forward to seeing:

• The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt, USA)

Reichardt is one of my all-time favorite directors, so this easily tops my list. In 1970s suburbia, a quiet family man leads a hidden life as an art thief, stealing works by a modernist painter while his own sense of order — at home and in crime — begins to collapse.

• Once Upon a Time in Gaza (Tarzan & Arab Nasser, Palestine/France)

In war-torn Gaza ruled by militants, a young man bent on avenging his friend’s death descends into a violent maze of loyalty and retribution, blurring the line between victim and perpetrator.

• The President’s Cake (Hasan Hadi, Iraq/USA/Qatar)

In 1990s Iraq, a determined nine-year-old girl faces a perilous mission: to bake a birthday cake for the country’s ruler — a task that could spell disaster if she fails to find the ingredients in time.

• Sirat (Oliver Laxe, Spain/France)

A father and his young son journey across the deserts of North Africa in search of their missing daughter, confronting the harsh landscape and the ghosts of their own broken faith.

• The Things You Kill (Alireza Khatami, Turkey/Canada/France/Poland)

A grieving academic returns home to uncover the truth behind his mother’s death, joining forces with an enigmatic gardener as old wounds and buried rage resurface in unexpected ways.

• Hamnet (Chloé Zhao, USA/UK)

Following the death of their 11-year-old son, playwright William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes grapple with grief and estrangement — their loss ultimately inspiring one of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedies.

• The Chronology of Water (Kristen Stewart, USA/France/Latvia)

Haunted by trauma and addiction, a woman rediscovers her sense of self through writing and swimming, forging an identity that defies pain and reinvents survival.

• Agapito (Arvin Belarmino & Kyla Danelle Romero, Philippines/France)

A short film. Inside a fading duckpin bowling alley, a group of pin boys rehearses a musical routine as they await a long-anticipated guest, finding brief joy in performance amid their bleak reality.

• Call My Manager (Erik Matti, Philippines)

Amid the cutthroat world of showbiz, a team of talent agents juggles celebrity egos, industry politics, and personal ambitions — revealing the chaos behind the spotlight.

• Family Matters (Pan Ke-yin, Taiwan)

Spanning two decades and four eras, one family’s intertwined memories reveal how love, resentment, and duty evolve across generations in a rapidly changing Taiwan.