CinePanalo 2026: Lineup, Tickets & Schedule

Based on the festival material provided, the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival 2026 has screenings scheduled from September 23 to October 4, 2026, with films showing at Gateway Cineplex 18 in Araneta City and several Ayala Malls Cinemas in Metro Manila. This year's program includes seven full-length films, four student shorts blocks, Panorama shorts, and selected screenings with talkbacks.

The full-length lineup jumps from political comedy to grief in Japan, supernatural romance, family drama, and a magical road trip involving John Arcilla and a carabao. Picking a schedule is going to take more thought than simply choosing whatever starts next.

Puregold CinePanalo 2026 full-length films

Wantawsan

Joseph Abello's Wantawsan follows a poor father who receives cash from the newly elected mayor he supported. Later that day, he sets out to buy food for his son's birthday and ends up on a comic adventure that puts both his values and his wit to the test.

Joross Gamboa, Rita Daniela, and Zion Cruz star, with its Gala Night scheduled for September 27, 2026.

Mono No Aware

In BC Amparado's Mono No Aware, set in Japan, a Filipino kodokushi cleaner meets an elderly widower who asks him for one final favor before he dies. The story deals with grief, family, and accepting the impermanence of life.

Juan Karlos and Perry Dizon star, with its Gala Night on September 29, 2026. A Filipino character whose job involves cleaning homes after people have died alone is not something I remember seeing often in local films, so this is one of the titles I would watch first.

Apol of my Ai

Thop Nazareno's Apol of my Ai follows young Apol, who may still be a child but already thinks of himself as a young man. His feelings for his choir teacher develop while a decision by his father, Poli, drives father and son apart, with music becoming a possible way for them to reconnect.

Zanjoe Marudo, Zion Cruz, and Rochelle Pangilinan star. Its Gala Night is scheduled for September 23, 2026.

Patay Gutom (Dead Hungry)

Carl Papa and Ian Pangilinan's Patay Gutom (Dead Hungry) begins with a grumpy shut-in whose third eye is accidentally opened after he eats an offering meant for a charming but lonely ghost. The two become bound together and begin uncovering family secrets, shared heartbreaks, and a relationship that blurs the line between life and the afterlife. I do not need a much harder sell than that.

The cast includes Khalil Ramos, Ian Pangilinan, Agot Isidro, and Cris Villanueva, with its Gala Night set for September 25, 2026.

Beast

Lawrence Fajardo's Beast follows a farmer forced by his landlord into one final harvest. He and his loyal carabao then set off on a magical road trip to Manila, chasing the ghost of a niece whom the passing years have taken from him.

John Arcilla stars, and the Gala Night is on September 24, 2026.

Stuck On You

Mikko Baldoza's Stuck On You follows a heartbroken manicurista who accidentally takes a hitman's job and gets pulled into a deadly conspiracy. She eventually has to choose between saving her family and killing the man of her dreams.

Xyriel Manabat and River Joseph star, with its Gala Night scheduled for September 26, 2026. "Manicurista accidentally becomes a hitman" can land as comedy, thriller, romance, or some strange combination of all three, and Xyriel Manabat makes me more curious about where the film takes it.

Multwoh (Patay na Patay Sa'yo)

Rodina Singh's Multwoh (Patay na Patay Sa'yo) begins when a queer college student suddenly dies in their dorm. They return as a ghost because they never managed to say "I love you" while they were alive.

Sassa Gurl and Joao Constancia star, with its Gala Night on September 28, 2026. The festival describes it as haunting, hilarious, and tender, and Sassa Gurl in a queer ghost story is already enough reason for me to pay attention.

CinePanalo 2026 student shorts

The student shorts are grouped into Shorts A, Shorts B, Shorts C, and Shorts D. The summaries below follow the festival material.

Shorts A

Starfish by John Clite Apolinar follows a male sex worker forced to return to his provincial hometown, where he confronts his estranged father, sister, and a community where oppression takes a familiar form. Kun Hain, Bisan Diin. by Jomarie Reyes is about a young lawyer returning to Samar to find her estranged activist mother before her wedding, while Kanibal by Michael Baylon is set in a marketplace where change begins affecting both Lea's beliefs and her body.

Sa mga Nagdaan at Lumipas by Ezaldea Carla Fernandez centers on a grieving queer archivist preserving footage of the Philippines' first Pride March in 1994, where she and her late lover both appear. Limlim by Samantha Beatriz Acoja Palaje follows a ten-year-old girl and her mother moving into seclusion on an old chicken farm as they try to live with their grief and begin again.

Sa mga Nagdaan at Lumipas immediately gets my attention because the 1994 Pride March is not just background here. The archive itself becomes part of a love story about remembering somebody who is no longer there.

Shorts B

Alumahan by Christian Melvin M. Arejola follows a grieving 13-year-old fish port helper who looks for belonging in a violent youth gang. When Heaven Inched Towards Earth by Vinh Marco is set in a Catholic high school in Bulacan, where a farm boy's bond with a sacristan forces him to deal with faith, shame, and the space between the two.

No Mad is an Island by Carl Geronimo follows Matmat, who dreams of dancing like a fish while the world keeps casting nets around him. Tingi by Rowan De Aro centers on a graduating student quietly saving coins from a neighborhood sari-sari store for college, while Ang Huling Banlaw ni Susan by Hezekiah M. Estorque follows a Filipina labandera whose fantasies slowly begin taking over her reality.

Shorts C

Pulis Dunggab by Maxine Dela Bajan begins with a nine-year-old boy playing his favorite game before an encounter turns childhood make-believe into something much more real. The Sound of K by Jay Gabriel A. Cañada follows a boy afraid of speaking, while Nakabinbin by Carlo Gula centers on a widowed father who cannot secure a death certificate for his daughter because there is no proof that she was ever born.

That last premise bothers me more than any ghost story in the lineup. A father unable to bury his daughter because a government system cannot establish that she legally existed is already horrifying enough.

Nang Matakasan ang Tagay by Giancarlo Santiago follows a seaman on the eve of his departure, moving between a farewell drinking session with friends and quieter moments with his son. The film puts machismo and tenderness in the same night and forces him toward a reckoning he has been avoiding.

Shorts D

Teks Battle: Shoot Pati Pato! by John Russel Capule uses a children's game of teks to mirror power inside a small barangay. Kapag Tapos na ang Umpukan by Justine Lee Estinor follows a young man caught between family obligation and his own ambitions, with lambanog-making and a night of celebration pushing him toward a decision he has delayed for too long.

12 Shots by Minnesota Flores takes place inside a dying Manila photo studio, where a teenage apprentice inherits her mentor's vintage camera before a debt turns deadly. Bumtak Sara ti Nuangen by Lloyd Pereira follows a young woman preparing to become her town's first OFW, while Miss Intrams by Henri Marie C. Belimac follows a queer transmasc college student entering the campus Miss Intramurals pageant to explore what the experience means for their identity.

Puregold CinePanalo 2026 Panorama Shorts

The festival also has a separate Panorama Shorts program. These films range from science fiction and horror to stories about disability, Martial Law memory, debt, family, public healthcare, and the digital traces people leave behind.

Alien Girl! by Skye Q. Estaris is about a new high school student secretly hiding an alien identity that reveals itself every time she speaks. Gatecrashers by Mark Francis Vicente follows a group of friends who sneak into a party and discover something sinister waiting for them, while Lip Skimming by Gian Arre follows a deaf woman through a series of job interviews experienced through her fragmented and intuitive lip-reading.

Plop by Gela Colada follows Ava on a surreal journey shaped by the absence of her mother. The Other Side of Reality by Zig Dulay follows a mother who reunites with her missing son through virtual reality 50 years after the disappearances of Martial Law, only to confront a technology capable of turning personal grief into spectacle and history into a commodity.

The second group includes Unti-unti by Eve Gallaga, about a young girl using a camcorder while trying to bring her busy parents together for another family meal. pansamantagalan by Jiean Lanz Llave follows a mother living in the slums of Manila who makes a desperate decision while trapped in a cycle of debt, while Aninaw by Arthur Benedict Dugan Eustaquio is set during the Battle of Bataan and follows a Filipino officer whose routine patrol becomes a deadly test of courage, leadership, and duty.

Narito Ako: A Digital Afterlife by Miguel Lorenzo Peralta follows a young filmmaker who opens his late father's Facebook account and begins tracing and downloading what remains of him online. As he follows that digital footprint, the film raises questions about privacy, memory, data, and whether preserving somebody's online remains eventually crosses into trying to reconstruct the person.

That premise feels close enough to real life to make me uncomfortable in a good way. People now leave behind years of messages, photos, videos, profiles, and posts, and we are still figuring out what all of that becomes once the person attached to it is gone.

The Panorama lineup also includes Pinagkaisahan by Angela Jed Silvestre-Placino, which follows three women from different walks of life struggling for care, dignity, and the right to be seen inside a crowded public hospital.

Puregold CinePanalo 2026 ticket prices

Regular Puregold CinePanalo 2026 tickets are ₱250, while special discounted tickets are ₱200 for PWDs, senior citizens, students, national athletes, and Puregold Perks and Aling Puring cardholders. The festival material also lists a ₱2,000 Festival Pass.

Confirm the ₱2,000 Festival Pass inclusions and restrictions with the festival before buying. The material supplied for this guide did not specify them.

Gateway Cineplex 18 CinePanalo 2026 schedule

At Gateway Cineplex 18 in Araneta City, CinePanalo screenings are scheduled mainly across Cinemas 12, 16, 17, and 18, with Cinema 11 also appearing later in the festival run. The screening grids use regular time slots of 11:30 AM, 2:30 PM, 5:30 PM, and 8:30 PM, and some screenings are specifically marked as talkbacks.

Gateway is probably the easiest place to build a full CinePanalo day because several screens are running the festival at the same time. You can start before lunch, move between a full-length film and a shorts block, eat somewhere in Araneta City, then still catch an 8:30 PM screening without changing malls.

Gateway schedule: September 23 to 26

Gateway schedule: September 27 to 30

Gateway schedule: October 1 to 4

Ayala Malls Cinemas showing CinePanalo 2026

The Ayala Malls schedule lists Puregold CinePanalo screenings at TriNoma Cinema 4, Fairview Cinema 2, Feliz Cinema 3, Circuit Cinema 4, Manila Bay Cinema 6, and Market! Market! Cinema 5. That gives you several alternatives if Araneta City is not the most convenient part of Metro Manila for you.

Check the official Puregold CinePanalo Facebook page for festival updates before heading out. The screening grids already note screenings moved to another cinema or rescheduled, which matters when you are crossing Metro Manila for one film.

Ayala Malls Cinemas schedule: September 23 to 26

Ayala Malls Cinemas schedule: September 27 to 30

Ayala Malls Cinemas schedule: October 1 to 4

The screening grids also mention several additional titles, including Journeyman, Fleeting, Co-Love, Olsen's Day, Tigkiliwi, and Salum. The festival material I received does not give those titles the same profiles and synopses included for the main full-length, student, and Panorama selections, so I am not going to guess where they belong in the program.

What I would make room for at CinePanalo 2026

Seven full-length films could fill several days, but I would still leave room for at least one shorts block.

A full-length title may be what gets me through the cinema doors, but CinePanalo has enough interesting shorts this year that I would not be surprised if one of them ends up being the film I remember most.

For more festival guides and Filipino film coverage, visit the Philippine Cinema page.