back

Rumaragasa

Raging
Panorama 2026
© Theo Lozada
The lush but troubled landscape of mid-1990s Sibuyan Island in the Philippines. Eli is a reserved young man carrying the weight of a trauma that his community refuses to acknowledge. After surviving a sexual assault by a peer, an event dismissed by local authorities and friends as nothing more than rough play, he retreats into a world of silence and isolation. When he witnesses a mysterious plane crash in the island’s densely forested mountains, his attempt to alert others is met with the same incredulity that greeted his earlier disclosure. In his solitude, Eli clings to fragments of sound and memory – often via the cassette tapes he carries with him – as he searches for some means of expression and truth. As the film unfolds, the personal and the communal collide: Eli’s internal unravelling mirrors the larger spectre of the environmental exploitation that is threatening his hometown. What begins as a quiet examination of one individual’s anguish evolves into a parable about how silence and denial can corrode both human lives and the natural world that sustains them.
by Ryan Machado (Director, Screenplay)
with Elijah Canlas, Ron Angeles, Reynald Raissel Santos, Glenn Sevilla Mas, Rodney Galicha, Nathan Sotto Philippines 2025 Filipino, Romblomanon 87' Colour International premiere

With

  • Elijah Canlas (Eli)
  • Ron Angeles (Arjo)
  • Reynald Raissel Santos (Jepoy)
  • Glenn Sevilla Mas (Mayor Bernardo)
  • Rodney Galicha (Felix)
  • Nathan Sotto (Manuel)

Crew

Director Ryan Machado
Screenplay Ryan Machado
Cinematography Theo Lozada
Editing John Rogers
Music Erwin Fajardo
Sound Design Lamberto Casas, Jr
Production Design David Esguerra
Costumes Calvin Macalili
Make-Up Jopie Sanchez
Casting Pia Relente
Producers Alemberg Ang, Sarah Pagcaliwagan-Brakensiek
Executive Producer Ryan Machado
Co-Producers Weskey Yap, Catsi Catalan, Joy Jamora

Produced by

Daluyong Studios

Philippines

World Sales

Diversion

Bangkok, Thailand

Photos

Ryan Machado

Born in Romblon, an island province of the Philippines, he is a playwright, director and lecturer at the University of the Philippines Manila. He has long been interested in stories from the peripheries of the Philippines. His work foregrounds regional voices, queering, masculinity and silence amid social and environmental neglect. His debut feature film Huling Palabas (Fin) premiered at Cinemalaya, where it won the prize for Best Director, and went on to screen in the Berlinale Generation section and at major LGBTQ+ festivals around the world. In 2025, he founded the Talabukon Film Festival to advance regional cinema in Romblon.

Filmography

2016 Engkwento (A Boy’s Tale); short film 2017 Kagat (Bite); short film 2020 AL+ER; short film 2023 Huling Palabas (Fin); Berlinale 2024 2025 Rumaragasa (Raging); Berlinale 2026

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026