FILAM Creative film festival

FILAM Creative film festival

The FilAm Creative Film Festival’s Symbol is from Filipino folklore, the Ibong Adarna.

The hope-filled story is a journey through song, adventure, and bravery. At times tragic wrought with betrayal and jealousy. Other times triumphant in bravery and resilience. An exploration of family dynamics and ultimately allowing love and forgiveness to prevail.

FilAm Creative Film Festival in Los Angeles honors our diverse narratives, celebrates our unique voices, and shines light on our nuanced universal stories because against all odds — as Filipinx, subjects of generational trauma, personal challenges of worthiness — we prevail through the art form of moving pictures to heal, inspire, and empower. After a year of healing, for this 3rd Edition of our festival, we explore the theme of “Family.”

Closed till next year!

Closed till next year!

2025 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

  • YOU + ME WILL ALWAYS BE BACK THEN

  • THREE ATE'S AND A WEDDING

  • The strawberries

  • Thank you for breaking my heart

  • Taga

  • SPAM FRIED RICE

  • SILIM

  • RUYA

  • REACH OUT

  • MAYBE IT'S JUST THE RAIN

  • LUKSO NG DUGO

  • LOLA

  • KI AND MARC

  • HOW MUCH FILIPINO

  • Fruit

  • TEMPORARY

  • EVERYTHING GOOD

  • DIMINISHING RETURNS

  • CAFUNE

  • BRAIN DUMP

  • BAKUNAWA

  • AUGMENTED

  • A KARAOKE SPACE ODYSSEY

THE 2025 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

BLOCK A - “EXPERIMENTAL”
Friday, September 26, 2025 at 1PM

We are honored to present our official selection for the 3rd Edition of the Filam Creative Film Festival Family is of the utmost importance and that’s what we’ve decided to focus our theme for 2025. Our esteemed panel of judges have carefully curated the best films that embody the power of storytelling. To our official selectees, to our wonderful staff, we thank you! Welcome to the 3rd Edition!

BLOCK C - “TRANSFORMATION”
SATURDAY, September 27, 2025 at 1PM

  • Directed by Kevin Ann

    Three Filipino-Canadian sisters try to make it through their younger brother's chaotic wedding.

  • Directed by Jess Stutman

    A young girl comes across a mighty, yet curious Bakunawa. Will it be friend or foe?

  • Directed by Nicole Mairose Dizon

    When a T’boli dreamweaver goes into a coma, her anxious, insomniac daughter tries to pick up where she left off on the design of her next t’nalak (a cloth woven from dreams).

  • Directed by Roni Canieso

    It's Thanksgiving dinner and twenty-something Gabi needs to drop a bombshell on her family. After 6 years, with one semester left to complete, she's dropping out of college. Gabi is especially worried about her father, whose high expectations have smothered her entire life. Riddled with nerves, Gabi enlists the help of her cousin Mari to help her finally speak her truth. Mari’s solution: get Gabi high for the very first time.

  • Directed by Greg Roensch

    Director/Writer Greg Roensch comes from a mixed family background (Irish, Scottish, German, Czech, Spanish, Portuguese, and Filipino), with his father's family having moved to the U.S. from Manila towards the end of World War II. When talking with others about his family background, Greg's often been asked, “How much Filipino are you?” This film was inspired by that question.

  • Directed by Annika Magbanua

    As Mae and her mother prepare for dinner, she senses a mysterious presence lingering outside

    of her home. Tensions rise during dinner when Mae’s father lashes out, pushing her to do

    something she’s never done before: stand up to her father. With the unexpected help of a

    monster inspired by Filipino folklore, Mae and her mother confront their fears and begin a

    journey towards healing.

  • Directed by Grace Hanna

    After Tessie's grandmother, Lola, is diagnosed with dementia, Tessie makes it

    her mission to save Lola's memories. Tessie has created a machine that transports her

    inside Lola's mind — a majestic library. Every memory is a book, and Tessie is trying to

    save one very dear to her: a memory of her and her grandma singing karaoke. Tessie

    and Lola can keep the memory if they recreate it perfectly. But thwarting their attempts at

    every turn is Mena, a small AI webcam. Mena is the dementia that's slowly creeping into

    Lola's mind. Will Tessie keep on trying in vain to save her grandmother's memories? Or

    learn to accept her grandmother's dementia?

  • Directed by Monica Silverio

  • Directed by Jacyln Aimee

    When a tender-hearted man lashes out at his boss, a deceptively simple home-cooked meal from his pregnant fiancée throws him into a spiral of guilt, secrets, and stomach-turning revelations.

  • Directed by Iya Baclagan & Francisco Yun

    When you beg your mind to stop thinking, what are you trying to suppress? Brain Dump is

    an experimental exploration of Vivian's unwelcome thoughts.

  • Directed by Matthew Abaya

    Augmented is a short proof-of-concept film that teases a much larger vision. What begins as an ordinary augmented reality gaming session quickly spirals into terror when a player realizes that the ghosts inside the game are not bound by code. This story world will expand into P[AR]ANORMA, a feature film blending Philippine mysticism, folklore, and technology-driven horror. The project explores themes of grief, cultural identity, and our uneasy relationship with the digital worlds we build — asking what happens when those worlds begin to haunt us back.

  • Directed by Ella Espiritu

    A short film about a fruit.

  • Directed by Jasper Capalad & Joshua Abrenilla

    As JCAP finds himself in handcuffs, he chases after someone who he thinks can help him be free.

  • Directed by Nicholas Luciano

    Gina is a directionless 30-something who sees a baby eating expensive strawberries at a picnic. Her envy takes the form of a moldy strawberry monster who terrorizes her.

    I wrote this short film to help deal with the realization that a baby can actually be "farther along in life" than a grown adult (me). But more deeply, I was inspired by the idea of confronting my own monsters and eventually coming to accept my weird and imperfect self, especially as someone who began writing and filmmaking later than most. It's never too late!

  • Directed by Achim Mendoza

    In this campy sci-fi rom-com musical, Stella, an undocumented Filipino in pursuit of a green card, goes on a wild karaoke date with a goofy white man that turns the whole world on its ear.

BLOCK B - “SACRED BONDS”
Friday, September 26, 2025 at 3PM

  • Directed by Reina Bonta

    In their historic debut, an underdog, diasporic group of young women despite all odds

    become the first Filipino team to score a goal and win a World Cup match. Reina, team center

    back, brings us along on this turbulent journey, culminating in an intimate trip to her

    grandmother’s hometown in the Philippines.

  • Directed by Joanne Nguyen

    Christine is satisfied with her life – she enjoys her career dancing at a strip club and has a liberating and loving open marriage with her husband. While the “open” was only supposed to be physical, Christine has unexpectedly deepened the bond with her fling, John, after a series of innocent yet existential conversations.

  • Directed by John Zafra-Haas

    In an intergenerational collaboration between Los Angeles-based electronica/soul trio Bootleg

    Orchestra and singer Roger Rigor from iconic Filipino band VST & Co, this short documentary

    explores the creative process of producing a song that calls for international solidarity for

    climate justice and highlights the role of music in giving life to a movement. Drawing from

    personal experiences of environmental injustices and its intimate pairing with the fight for human

    rights, the artists elaborate on stories behind this song as well as share their creative process of

    collective songwriting and recording in the studio to create a song to uplift the people. The

    documentary concludes with a music video of the full song.

  • Directed by Jill Marie Sachs

    Vivi, a third-culture Filipina-American, travels to the Philippines to reconnect with her roots, but

    falls in with a group of Western eco-volunteers. When they scorn the customs of a remote

    mountain village, an ancient evil comes knocking.

BLOCK D - “IDENTITY”
SATURDAY, September 27, 2025 at 3PM

  • Directed by Rachel Leyco

    In a magical fantasy world where soul contracts and reincarnation are everyday truths, ending your life isn’t simple—you have to apply to A.S.S. (The Administration of Souls in Sorrow) to terminate your lifetime. Mahal, a heartbroken queer artist, decides she’s ready to die. While keeping this choice hidden from her sweet grandmother, her friends, and a new budding romance, she uncovers old videotapes of her first great love, Tala. As she edits them into one last video essay for her application, past memories begin to bleed into her present. Confronting heartbreak, identity, and the loss of her old self, Mahal must decide: will she let sorrow consume her, or choose the courage to love and heal in this lifetime?

  • By Colin Whitman

    $80 due today. Out of time and out of options, Ernesto keeps a positive outlook while he hunts the streets and dumpsters of LA for enough recyclables to pay for his daughter’s chemo treatment back home in the Philippines.

  • Directed by Alexander Cruz De Ocampo

    HAYDEN HAN is a Californian travel influencer with ten million internet friends and no one to call. On the eve of his first Christmas after a deep personal loss, Hayden flees to the Philippines in hopes of escaping his rapidly devolving personal life. His desperate bid for human connection propels him through a roiling Manila night that brings him face to face with the last person he wants to see: himself.

  • Directed by Marissa Roxas

    “YOU + ME WILL ALWAYS BE BACK THEN” is a short love story set to AJ Rafael’s legendary song,

    “When We Say (Juicebox)”– just reimagined from a queer woman’s perspective.

    The film follows two Filipina leads, Maya + Sam, through various moments of their intimate relationship.

    The story explores identity + acceptance, and provides a compassionate view of a reality LGBTQIA+

    people continue to face, “What do you do when you’re out, but your partner isn’t? (or vice versa?)”...

    Ultimately, this film is about love, loss, + letting go.

  • Directed by John Geronilla

    Ki and Marc chase their ragtag Americana dream in a weathered vintage Mercedes, hustling used audio gear through sun-bleached neighborhoods. But when their aimless road takes Ki to her birth mother’s hometown, she’s forced to confront the past she’s long avoided—and the feelings she can’t keep running from.

2024 Recap

A Recap of the 2024 FilAm Creative Film Festival by Nilo Media Solutions

Thank you to Nilo for capturing this special event!

Song: Bebot by @apldeap of the @blackeyedpeas

FilAm Creative Film Festival Awards Gala by our sponsor Nilo Media Solutions


Congratulations to the awardees!

PAST 2024 WINNERS

  • Grand Jury Award: "Party Favor" Directed by Yasmine Gomez

  • Audience Award: "Astralogik" by Jayna Corpus Benito

  • FilAm Creations AUDIENCE AWARD:  "Awit Ng Puso" by Dale Fabrigar

  • Best Short Film: "Bonifacio" by Grace Simbulan


  • Best Director: Myra Aquino for "Get Your Story Straight"

  • Best Leading Actor: Lito Pimentel for "Bonifacio"

  • Best Supporting Actor: Solomon Mark De Guzman for "Bonifacio"

NBC feature on the 2024 FilAm Creative Film Festival

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