ILOILO CITY – This city successfully hosted the 16th edition of Cinema Rehiyon, the annual film festival of the Committee on Cinema of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) headed by chairperson Butch Ibañez and vice chairperson Tito Valiente.

THE opening of Cinema Rehiyon 16 at Cinema Exmundo (UPV Cinematheque) in Iloilo City. (UP Visayas)
With the theme “Patubas sang Taliambong, Banwa nga Mahamungyaon,” more than 50 films from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao were screened for an Ilonggo audience from March 19 to 21 at the Cinema Exmundo (UPV Cinematheque) and The Shops at Atria.
“The Gospel of the Beast” by Sheron Dayoc was the opening film. It starred Jansen Pagpusao, the Antiqueño who became known for his role in “John Denver Trending,” which won Best Film at the 2019 Cinemalaya: The Philippine Independent Film Festival.
The “Ghosts of Kalantiaw” by Chuck Escasa was the closing film. The documentary film produced by Aimee Apostol-Escasa drew parallelism between the now debunked legal code that was once the pride of people in Batan, Aklan province and the return of another Marcos presidency.

THE closing of Cinema Rehiyon 16 at The Shops at Atria in Iloilo City. (Tara Yap)
This year’s presenters were CineKasimanwa: The Western Visayas Film Festival led by directors Noel Galon de Leon and Kyle Fermindoza.
Cinema Rehiyon was backed by the UP Visayas Office of Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA), Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), and Ayala Malls.
Cinema Rehiyon not only screened films from all genres created post-pandemic but also had a series of talks by Prof. Januar Yap as well as Liza Ofianga and Jomel Lucenario of FDCP.
There was also a book exhibition curated by Eric Abalajon.
Cinema Rehiyon paid tribute to two industry players who recently passed away – former NCCA chairperson Teddy Co and production designer Adrian Torres.