Season of the Devil

Lav Diaz subverts the musical genre as he takes us on a journey through a dark chapter in the Philippines' all-too-recent history.

In the late 1970s, during a period of martial law, a young, altruistic doctor named Lorena relocates to a remote village to open a clinic. Left behind is her husband Hugo (Piolo Pascual), who is scared for her safety, knowing that the village is controlled by the Civilian Home Defence Forces.

When Lorena mysteriously disappears, Hugo embarks on a search to find her.

Curator's note
After his Golden Lion-winning 2016 film The Woman Who Left, Lav Diaz followed up with the unexpected – an historical musical set during Ferdinand Marcos' period of martial law. Featuring dialogue that is almost entirely delivered in song, Diaz dips into a genre that Hollywood often aligns with comedy, but delivers it as a dark-as-night look into the horrific side of humanity.

On paper, the film might seem like a departure for Lav Diaz, but it holds true to the director's rejection of narrative and genre conventions, and takes us further down his unique creative trail, now well and truly blazed. Season of the Devil premiered at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival.