Kuwentong Peyups by Atty. Dennis Gorecho
Tales of death, friendship and queer love took centerstage in three entries of the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival 2026 – “Multwoh”, “Patay Gutom” and “Mono No Aware”.
The festival features ghosts — one a charming loner in “Patay Gutom” and the other in gothic drag in “Multwoh”.
“Multwoh” (Patay na Patay Sa’yo) is directed by Rodina Singh with Sassa Gurl and Joao Constancia as main cast.
When a college queer named Marcel (Sassa Gurl) dies suddenly in their dorm, he returns as a ghost — not to seek revenge, but to say the one thing he never found the courage) in life to say (“I love you) to his best friend Miguel (Constancia). A haunting, hilarious, and tender story about fear, desire, and the kind of love that refuses to die.
Marcel has to settle his unfinished business before the 40th day after death, which is a significant milestone in many cultures and religions, marking the end of a transitional spiritual period or the conclusion of intense formal mourning.
It is a story that uses humor in exploring life, death, the afterlife, and the different issues surrounding its characters.
The film blends haunting, hilarious and tender elements in a story about love that endures even beyond death. It uses the ghost as a metaphor for queer visibility.
Both were students of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Baguio City.
“Patay Gutom (Dead Hungry)” is co-directed by Carl Joseph Papa and Ian Pangilinan with Khalil Ramos and Pangilinan himself as main cast.
It follows a grumpy lonely man who begins seeing a ghost when his third eye is accidentally opened after eating food meant as an offering to the charming but lonely ghost.
Now bound together, they discover family secrets, shared heartaches and a love that blurs the line between life and afterlife.
“It’s an exploration of loneliness, grief, and how opening up yourself to people can sometimes take nudging—and how it’s only by finding community that you are able to move forward from the difficult moments in your life,” director Ian Pangilinan said in an interview.
“Mono No Aware” is directed by BC Amparado with Juan Karlos Labajo and Perry Dizon as main cast.
The film follows the perspective of a Filipino overseas worker employed as a kodokushi cleaner in Japan, navigating the stark contrast of isolated Japanese life and the shared community spaces of Manila.
A kodokushi cleaner (often called a “lonely death” cleaner) is a professional who specializes in the intense biohazard remediation and emotional labor of cleaning apartments where individuals have died alone and remained undiscovered for weeks or months, found only once neighbors notice the smell or the unopened mail.
Kodokushi is a stark social phenomenon in a country with an ageing population that affects over 30,000 people annually, primarily isolated elderly individuals or marginalized workers living on their own and fractured connection.
Ichi meets an elderly widower (Dizon) who asks him for one final favor before he dies. What begins as a promise becomes a quiet story of grief, family, and accepting life’s impermanence.
“Multwo”, “Mono No Aware”, and “Gutom” are three of the seven official full-length finalist of the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival 2026 along with 19 student short films running until October 4, 2026, at select Metro Manila cinemas.
The other films include “Wantawsan” directed by Joseph Abello that stars Joross Gamboa; “Apol of My Ai” directed by Thop Nazareno that stars Zion Cruz, Zanjoe Marudo and Rochelle Pangilinan; “Beast” directed by Lawrence Fajardo with John Arcilla; and “Stuck on You” directed by Mikko Baldoza with River Joseph and Xyriel Manabat as cast.
“Mono No Aware” was named Best Film along with the International Jury award. BC Amparado won Best Director, Juan Karlos Labajo won as Best Actor, and Momoko Kobayashi won as Best Supporting Actress.
The film also dominated several technical categories, winning awards for Sound Design, Editing, Ensemble, and Cinematography.
“Multwoh” won Audience, Production Design, and Always Panalo awards.
“Patay Gutom” won Best Story, Visual Effects, and Always Panalo awards.
For “Stuck on You” , Xyriel Manabat won as Best actress while “Reyna ng Quezon City” won Best Song.
The film “Apol of My Ai” won Best Actor for Zanjoe Marudo, Best Child Performer for Zion Cruz and Best Musical Scoring.
Puregold CinePanalo 2026 ran from September 23 to October 4, 2026 across eight Metro Manila venues with Gateway Cineplex 18 as the main venue.
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