In the 16th century, young and ambitious Portuguese navigator Fernão de Magalhães rebels against the power of King Manuel I, who doesn't support his dream of discovering the world. He persuades the Spanish Crown to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East. The voyage is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magalhães' mind changes. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, which sparks violent uprisings beyond his control.

2001 Filipino film

Hilarion Zabala, a former master sergeant, is tormented by a strange smell. The diagnosis is phantosmia, i.e. olfactory hallucinations, where he perceives smells that do not actually exist. His doctor attributes this to past trauma and recommends that he confront and recall his dark military service period as a solution. Zabala, willing to take on any task, voluntarily visits a military base and is eventually assigned to a remote island penal colony. However, another horrific reality awaits him there.
From religious bloodshed to human rights abuses against women, the various forms of violence created by humans are still structurally and routinely pervasive. How can justice and salvation be achieved in an age of violence? Can violence used to prevent violence ever be justified? Deep anguish is reflected through the contemplative black-and-white imagery. (BOO Kyunghwan)

2023 Filipino film

The Philippines, 1974: as Marcos’ oppressive regime becomes increasingly entrenched after he imposed martial law in 1972, Servando Monzon III, heir to his powerful clan’s hacienda and family business, refuses to capitulate to the dictator’s plans to control the country. In this adaptation of Ricardo Lee’s short story and screenplay Servando Magdamag, Lav Diaz, the unrelenting and incisive prober of Philippine history’s shadowy areas, offers a film of epic proportions. The aim, as unequivocally indicated by the title, is nothing less than to scrutinise Filipino violence and explore its roots from Spanish colonisation to the present day. Feudalism and power struggles are closely examined. Borne aloft by a remarkable cast – John Lloyd Cruz in the main role is a huge television and film star in the Philippines – this “sine novela”, according to the opening credits, mixes up the codes of the telenovela with Lav Diaz’ ostensibly very different filmmaking. The story unfolds of the mutual relationships of a profusion of characters over time, shot in the sumptuous black and white that is now the stuff of most of his movies. The filmmaker himself frames these magnificent shots that stretch out, sensuous experiences of living tableaux attentive to the bodies set in a place as well as to the languages used, to the inner movements and down-time. In this film that’s both a tragic saga set in the past and the tale of an “endless nightmare”, Diaz takes on a dual allegorical dimension – the figures of the philosopher and the blind man – and an informative one, like the revolutionary education meetings that pepper the story. This “tale of violence” is also an epic with very contemporary resonances, as the recent election to the presidency of another Marcos, a devoted son of the previous president, reminds us. (Nicolas Feodoroff)
源自：

In his trailer for the Viennale, THE BOY WHO CHOSE THE EARTH, Lav Diaz tells the story of a boy who has aspirations – he educates himself and forges plans. One day there’s a knock on the door, someone leaves and he is literally left out in the rain. Thunder cracks and lightning flashes, water pelts down and engulfs everything. Incredulously, the boy looks up to the heavens – is this supposed to be his destiny? THE BOY WHO CHOSE THE EARTH is probably the shortest film Lav Diaz has ever made – a grain rich in meaning. (V'18 Trailer: THE BOY WHO CHOSE THE EARTH von Lav Diaz）
The idea of commissioning Lav Diaz to direct a two-minute trailer might sound like a cinephilic jest. But the result of this experiment in contrasts is a dense, evocative short film that transmits layers of narrative and mystery in its brief run time. Aesthetically speaking, THE BOY WHO CHOSE THE EARTH resembles some of Diaz’s early shadowy black-and-white works, albeit marked by a somewhat softer, finer touch. While maintaining a focus on the relations of family, and the importance of place, its tone departs starkly from Diaz’s often wrenching epic-realist sensibilities. It involves a young boy, an anonymous son, who lives seemingly self-sustained in what might be the present and might be the end of the world. He is alone amid an ostensibly functional, if precarious universe. His occupations form a picture of early subjectivity – and a prompt to explore, from the inner self to an ever-obscured life outside. (Rachael A. Rakes)

Hesus Mariano is caught in a deadly match between his mentor Rebel Leader Miguel Reynante and military Colonel Arnold Simon. Drawing inspiration from his childhood sweetheart Hilda, Hesus decides to change the rules and take control of the game.

1957年，菲律賓雜耍表演大師 Hernando Alamada，在五月花號遊輪上完成了他巡演的最後一站。這位前社會主義幹部知道菲律賓將會再次經歷痛苦的轉變⸺萬人景仰的總統麥格塞塞突然死於空難。他回到貧民窟，既擔憂國家的現狀與未來，又要面臨個人的危機。此時，他決定踏上漫無目的的旅程，在荒誕的劇場中尋找救贖。近年量產的拉夫狄亞茲繼續用藝術來反思菲律賓歷史，借國家的過去理解當下的困局。

Erwin ROMULO, the late Alexis TIOSECO’s best friend, recalls the events of TIOSECO and his girlfriend’s untimely death. DIAZ makes use of one long take to allow ROMULO an uninterrupted narration of the events. The pain of recalling is palpable. ROMULO is transformed into a classic DIAZ protagonist, a man who is continuously burdened by the irrationalities of the society.

以菲律宾为主题的影片，代表菲律宾电影的三位导演Brillante Mendoza，Lavda Diaz和Kidla Lathatimic参与其中。菲律宾由7,641个岛屿组成，分为三个部分：北吕宋岛，南棉兰老岛和中米沙鄢群岛。

Lieutenant Hermes Papauran, one of the best investigators in the Philippines, is at a deep moral crossroads. He is a first-hand witness of the murderous anti-drug campaign conducted by his force, his anxiety and guilt triggering a severe skin disease. As he tries to heal, a dark past haunts him.

主角耶利米的生財架生一頭牛和貨車給偷了。他找警察報案，其間發現一幫少年在密謀綁架一名少女Helena，而當中的密謀主腦就是村裏的富家子。貪污和貧窮、警察和無政府狀態，才是導演要講的故事。如果身為警察的審判者都貪污，正道何在？結果耶利米去教堂找神父，神父叫他找警察。耶利米說警察都找過，可是警察也勸他不要多事。神父叫他祈禱求神幫助，因爲神會審判，公義在祂。耶利米說，可是那個少女將會給殺死，求公義有用嗎？他再次找警察，結果挨了一身毒打。耶利米很絕望，他祈禱同神講數，以絕食四十日徒步四十日交換少女的命，這是他唯一能做的，就是爲了救回少女Helena。

An engkanto, or encanto, is an often-malign spirit dwelling in the Filipino countryside, although in Death in the Land of Encantos, some of them have migrated to eastern Europe as exiles. Their human counterpart is the film’s protagonist, Benjamin (“Hamin”) Agusan, a poet who returns from years in Russia to search for the body of his girlfriend in the wake of a catastrophic typhoon and landslides. These 2006 disasters devastated the Bicol region where Diaz’s films have been set since Evolution of a Filipino Family, killing thousands. This film, which inaugurated Diaz’s “trauma trilogy,” includes documentary footage in an attempt to record the suffering of the local inhabitants.
A Filipino poet named Benjamin Agusan (Roeder Camanag) is the hapless native who returns to his hometown Padang to witness the aftermat h of the super typhoon. For the past seven years, Benjamin had been living in an old town called Kaluga in Russia. With his grant and residency, he taught and conducted workshops in a university. The poet published two books of sadness and longing in the process. In Russia, Benjamin was able to shoot video collages, fell in love with a Slavic beauty, buried a son, and almost went mad. He came back to bury his dead-father, mother, sister and a lover. He came back to face Mount Mayon, the raging beauty and muse of his youth. He came home to confront the country that he so loved and hated, the Philippines. He came back to die in the land of his birth. He wanders around the obliterated village meeting old friends and lovers.

As no other filmmaker, Lav Diaz is involved with the suffering of the people of the Philippines, with its history of colonialism, corruption and poverty. A philosophical drama about the psychological effects of injustice and arbitrariness. Two poor labourers leave the city looking for a treasure.
Few filmmakers make films as long as those of Lav Diaz. Six hours is not even particularly long within his oeuvre. He has films to his name that are twice that long. And even fewer filmmakers would want to reshoot a film they’ve already made. Yet that’s what happened here. Lav Diaz shot a first version of Florentina Hubaldo, CTE in 2009. Once he had a HD camera, he decided to shoot the film again. Another long film. Back to distant and inhospitable locations. It says a lot about this filmmaker's commitment that he does not make life easy for himself when telling his epic social dramas.
Florentina Hubaldo, CTE has several protagonists. There are the two construction workers, Manoling and Juan, who have become unemployed and left the city to go digging for treasure. There’s the shopkeeper Manang Nena who makes her daughter become a prostitute. And the Harvard-business student Briggs who takes over his family's feudal company. Stories that show the extreme aspects of the Philippines.
Programmer Note by Gertjan Zuilhof:
Lav Diaz in Rotterdam: Florentina Hubaldo, CTE: 300' x 2 = 600' + Century, 355' x 2 = 710' + Butterflies: 58' x 3 = 174' + Melancholia: 480' x 3 = 1440' + Purgatorio: 16' x 2 = 32' + Encantos: 540' x 2 = 1080' + Heremias book 1': 540' x 1 = 540' + When the Rain Ended: 7' x 2 = 14' + Evolution: 630' x 2 =1260'. Total: 5850 / 60 = 97.5 hours.
Yes, I decided to count it all up. After the screening of Florentina Hubaldo, CTE, the festival has screened almost 100 hours of Lav Diaz. Lav Diaz is the master of the long film, which is called more elegantly in French film fleuve, and since his masterpiece Evolution of a Philippine Family (2005) we have followed his work closely. Or, to pursue the French metaphor, we have drifted down the river with him.
There’s plenty to be said about the work of Lav Diaz. These are opulent stories that are embedded in a complex social-political and geographical history, but they are also just long or very long films that demand a certain physical perseverance from the Spectator.
I love to allow myself to be swept away by the full length and duration of the films, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally drift off. For instance - I think it was in 2006 - I saw the rough version of Heremias on the Philippine vacation island Boracay. The Cinemanila festival was accustomed to organising workshops on the island and Lav Diaz was to screen his latest majestic work at night in the open air on the famous white beach. I didn’t want to miss that.. For technical reasons, the screening was moved inside and at the end of the film, Lav Diaz's producer, himself and I were the only spectators left. 'Last-man standing,' Lav said about me next day to the director of the Cinemanila Festival, which wasn’t quite true. During the final titles, I was shaken awake by the master so I was just in time to see the HBF logo.

拉夫狄亚兹 (《莫忘初衷》，39 届) 真是电影奇葩，孜孜不倦用超长片长做电影兼国族宣言，意义已超越光影。层次分明波澜壮阔的史诗，革命英雄的说法多角度话分几头，说得异常深刻动听。1896 年菲国独立前夕，独立先锋邦尼法素遭敌对革命军奸计杀害，妻子孜孜展开一段遍山寻找丈夫遗体的长征，革命军自相残杀、西班牙殖民者的无间阴谋铺展开来，相关历史、文学与神话无一遗漏，恩怨情仇难三言两语，狄亚兹以长镜头凝视，掘出埋没的历史真相。革命英雄至今尚未获追认，就由光影做个见证。菲律宾历来最强卡士阵容，也史无前例最长的一部柏林影展竞赛片。今年柏林影展Alfred Bauer银熊奖。

An ex-military sniper who was honorably discharged accepts a mission that will indefinitely change her life in the attempts to make ends meet. It is a quiet character study of when your life's purpose is stripped away, but you still pursue it, only to realize that it could kill you.

Depicting the struggles of Filipinos in rural areas under the brutal Marcos regime, a family of poor farmers tries to overcome the challenges brought on by corruption and greed for power spanning 1971 to 1987.

20世纪70年代末期，一支由军队控制的民兵团体控制了菲律宾丛林中的一个遥远村庄。士兵们身着制服，手握机关枪，在村子里散布肉体和精神上的恐惧。他们使得村中邻里之间反目为敌，并试图根除村民们对传说和神灵的信仰。勇敢的年轻医生洛雷娜为贫苦人家开设了诊所，却随后消失不见。她的丈夫雨果·海尼威是一名诗人、社会运动家和老师，打算去寻找妻子的下落。而当他到达这个村庄时，他遭遇到了一个被专治和暴力摧毁的社群。

An embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced into a harsh prison sentence; a mother and her two children wander the countryside looking for some kind of redemption.

Three people start a strange therapy to escape their agonies through process of execution. Each attempts to process those they lost during the Marcos dictatorship while examining their own grief.