Cinemalaya 2025 films to screen at UP Los Baños

Cinemalaya films at Elbi. 🎬

The UP Film Circle (UPFC), in partnership with the UPLB Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA), presents CineElbi 2026: Hit Wave, a three-day campus film festival running on April 28–30, 2026 at the UPLB NCAS Auditorium.

This year’s edition features selected entries from Cinemalaya 2025, bringing together a curated slate of Filipino independent films that reflect urgent social realities and continuing struggles for justice, freedom, and collective memory. The program positions cinema as a space that responds to the intensifying call for accountability and meaningful change within society.

Tickets are priced at ₱150 (regular) and ₱120 (discounted), with a ₱600 Festival Pass available for full access to all screenings.

Cinema as resistance

The lineup includes Sari Dalena’s “Cinemartyrs” (April 28, 4:00 PM), Noni Abao’s “Bloom Where You Are Planted” (April 28, 7:00 PM), Raymund Barcelon and Cheska Marfori’s “Paglilitis” (April 29, 4:00 PM), Ryan Machado’s “Raging” (April 29, 7:00 PM), Renei Dimla’s “Republika ng Pipolipinas” (April 30, 4:00 PM), and Jenn Romano’s “Padamlagan” (April 30, 7:00 PM).

Across its six-film program, CineElbi 2026 foregrounds works that engage with political histories, institutional critique, and lived experiences shaped by inequality and resistance. The selection underscores the continuing relevance of independent cinema in articulating contemporary social conditions and collective aspirations.

By expanding into a full-fledged festival format, CineElbi strengthens its role as a campus-based cultural platform that brings Cinemalaya films closer to student and community audiences, fostering critical engagement and dialogue through cinema.