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QCinema Critics Lab Returns for Year Three—With Sharper Pens and Bolder Questions

As QCinema International Film Festival (QCIFF) celebrates its 13th year, it’s once again welcoming a new generation of cinematic voices through its Critics Lab, happening November 13–17, 2025. Now on its third edition, the program gathers eight emerging critics from across the Philippines for an intensive, in-person workshop designed to sharpen their writing and deepen their understanding of cinema.

The Critics Lab is helmed by Jason Tan Liwag, a respected FIPRESCI member and four-time Golden Globe voter, with the support of Emil Hofileña, critic and former FAMAS jury member. Together, they guide participants through film screenings, critical writing, filmmaker interviews, and in-depth discussions with editors, researchers, and industry professionals.

This Year’s Focus: The Editor

The 2025 Critics Lab shifts its lens toward the editor—not just the one in the editing suite, but also those who shape discourse through writing, teaching, curating, publishing, and organizing. This year’s sessions challenge participants to question the concept of “bad”—from bad writing and bad reading to bad ideas, bad artists, bad spaces and more.

Through conversations with established editors and thinkers, the lab aims to confront how narratives are constructed, how power flows through media, and what it means to read—and write—critically in today’s cultural landscape.

Esteemed Guests: From Critics to Cultural Shapers

Participants will engage with a powerful roster of guest speakers and mentors, including:

• Laurence Marvin Castillo, Associate Professor at the UP Los Banos and author of Figuring Resistance: The Revolution in Film and Literature in the Philippines
• Katrina Ross Tan, Professor at the UP Los Baños, festival director of Pelikultura, and author of Regional Cinema in the Philippines: The Archipelagic Imagination
• Erwin Romulo, Sound designer, curator, and founding editor-in-chief of Esquire Philippines
• Jonty Cruz, Chief of Editorial Content of Rolling Stone Philippines
• Audrey Carpio, Features editor of Vogue Philippines
• Jerome Gomez, Editor-in-chief of SPOT PH
• Chris Fujiwara, Author and editor of several books on film, including Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall, The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger, and Jerry Lewis
• Panos Kotzathanasis, Editor-in-chief of Asian Movie Pulse
• Katrina Stuart Santiago, Critic, editor, and owner of Everything’s Fine
• Guelan Varela-Luarca, Palanca Hall of Fame, writer, and translator; director and writer behind the stage adaptations of Mike De Leon’s Kisapmata and Batch ’81
• Alyssandra Maxine, Critics Lab alumnus, editor of MARG1N, and program officer in The Center for New Cinema
• Red Sales, Critics Lab alumnus and video essayist
• Lav Diaz, former critic and internationally acclaimed director (Magellan)

Meet the 2025 Cohort of QCinema Critics

This year’s participants represent a wide spectrum of regions, disciplines, and identities:

A.L. Sarino – An in-house member of Erato Magazine and a general editor for Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine and The Trailblazer Literary Magazine, Sarino explores the self, community, and identity politics through poetry, film reviews, and experimental prose.

Athena Venus – Aspiring film critic from Rizal, whose love for cinema blossomed during the pandemic and evolved into a deep fascination for the dreamlike realm of Sofia Coppola, Agnès Varda, and Alice Rohrwacher films. Athena’s work focuses on stories of women, and the struggles they face in contemporary society. When she’s not writing about the nuances of the female experience, you’ll catch her posting edits on her twitter account.

Benj Gabun Sumabat – Trilingual (Ilokano, Filipino, English) non-binary poet, essayist, and PWD from Cagayan Valley and Ifugao. A senior BA Creative Writing student at UP Diliman, their writing has appeared in NYU’s The Greene Street Review, Polyglot Magazine, Bannawag, Dagmay, TLDTD Journal, and elsewhere. An alumnus of Palihang Rogelio Sicat, Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio Writers Workshop, Cordillera Creative Writing Workshop, and Kalaw-Ledesma Art Criticism Writing Workshop, their works mainly explore and work on belonging/unbelonging, departures, queer body, disability justice, and blue humanities.

FJ Calvario – Writes about films sometimes. He may have graduated with a degree in Geography but he is most passionate about cinema. He writes reviews and edits videos for the collective Kinoise. A UP Cinema alumnus, he is a former Cinemaster Critics Circle chairperson and served as Selection Committee Head for Piling Obrang Vidyo XXI. Having proposed a “spatial cinema” framework for this thesis, he continues to seek opportunities to bridge geography and cinema. He can get a little political.

Javi Villaluz – Student filmmaker and writer from Novaliches, Quezon City. He first began online on Letterboxd under the alias PlaguDocta, gaining notice for writing poetry on the obscure titles of pan-Asian cinema. His work has been published in the indie magazine MARG1N, and he was most recently a fellow of Sphere Festival’s Young Critics Program. He continues to explore prose, interiority, and storytelling through the language of film editing.

Jia Enad – Homegrown Cebuana and is currently studying BA Communication at the University of the Philippines Cebu. Writing from the regions, she brings a southern lens into the capital’s conversations on cinema, seeking to reframe how stories from the margins are seen and valued. Her criticism probes films through the lens of girlhood, history, and regional life, often wrestling with images until they yield questions about intimacy, violence, and collective survival.

Kiana Flores – Freelance writer and marketing strategist. Her work has been published in Rookie Magazine, CNN Philippines Life, Vogue Philippines, and PhilSTAR Life. She has worked in film production and sets as an Assistant Director. She is an aspiring critic and is based between Davao City and the Visayan regions. Her work examines the intersections of identity, culture, lifestyle, and community.

Lebron Ponce – Writer, director, and critic from Ormoc City, Leyte. A junior taking up Development Communication at Visayas State University, he is a member of Silakbo—Baybay Film Organization, the first student-led film organization in Leyte. His works and interests gravitate toward regional cinema, memory, and social realities, often exploring the intersections of community, identity, and place through humanist lenses.

Building a Growing Community of Critics

The program doesn’t just focus on the present. It also nurtures a growing alumni network. Fourteen past fellows are invited back this year for forums and knowledge exchanges. Returning alumni include:

Alyssandra Maxine, Bane Vicente, Justine Danielle Reyes, Kaj Palanca, Lé Baltar, Novy Mae Recate, Red Sales, Roselle Marie Abanilla, Acer Batislaong, Brontë Lacsamana, Wax Singson, Ligaya Villablanca, Maverick Alviar, and Mac John Bautista.

Together, they help shape a vibrant, intergenerational space for Philippine film criticism to grow and thrive.

Behind the Lab: Festival & Partners

The QCinema Critics Lab is part of the 13th QCinema International Film Festival, which runs from November 12 to 17, 2025. This year’s lab is made possible through partnerships with The Millas Hostel and Cafe, Sine Pop, Ultradogme, and Everything’s Fine.

A Platform for the Future of Criticism

In a landscape where content floods faster than critique, programs like QCinema’s Critics Lab are essential. They not only equip emerging writers with the tools to write powerfully, but also raise crucial questions about authorship, ethics, and meaning-making in the digital age.

With a fresh batch of voices and editors ready to reframe how we see the screen, QCinema 2025 promises to be more than a film festival—it’s a thinking festival.