03/02/2025 - The Perspectives section will see the French sales agent wagering on Where the Night Stands Still by Filippino director Philippin Liryc Dela Cruz, a first feature film majority funded by Italy

We’ve stopped keeping count of the new talented directors unearthed over the years by French international sales agent Alpha Violet, whose most notable recent discoveries include Mexico’s Lila Avilés (of Totem [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lila Avilés
film profile], which competed in Berlin in 2023), fellow Mexicans Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez (awarded the Grand Jury Prize in the Sundance Film Festival’s 2024 World Cinema Dramatic competition via Sujo [+see also:
film review
film profile]), Taiwan’s Chiang Wei Liang (scooping a Special Mention in the Cannes’ Golden Camera line-up in 2024 thanks to Mongrel [+see also:
film review
film profile]), Lithuania’s Laurynas Bareiša (whose work Drowning Dry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laurynas Bareiša
film profile] claimed Best Director and Best Acting Performance in Locarno last year) and Iranian directors Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi (awarded last year’s Best Director trophy in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic competition via In the Land of Brothers [+see also:
film review
interview: Raha Amirfazli, Alireza Gha…
film profile]).

A great deal of interest can therefore be expected at the European Film Market (running 13 – 19 February), unspooling within the 75th Berlinale, since it will see Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato selling their latest discovery, Where the Night Stands Still, which is Filippino director Liryc Dela Cruz’s first fiction feature film and which is set to be unveiled in the festival’s new Perspectives section.

Written by the director, the story follows two Filippino sisters and their brother who are all domestic workers in Italy and who come together in the villa that one of the sisters has inherited. Shared memories and buried grievances soon come to the surface, however, putting their fragile relationship to the test… Stand-out names in the cast include Tess Magallanes, Jenny Llanto Caringal and Benjamin Vasquez Barcellano Jr.

"This film is a gem, not just for its cinematography but for its narrative structure too", stresses Virginie Devesa. "It speaks from the viewpoint of Filippino immigrants who have been living in Italy for over 20 years. Are they properly integrated? What is life like for them, living so far away from their home country as domestics for rich Italians? It’s a film “noir" on a highly polarising subject to reflect upon. It was majority funded by Italy as well as a collective of artists called Il Mio Filippino Collectivo, which organises performances and numerous talks on this topic which impacts each and every social category, ranging from new generations of migrants to those who’ve been living in Italy for several decades."

Production of Where the Night Stands Still was outsourced to Pelircula (the filmmaker’s own firm) in co-production with Leonardo Birindelli on behalf of Ozono, with the Il Mio Filippino Collective and with Reckless Natarjan Pictures.

(Translated from French)