Film program
Matinees
Fridays 1.30pm, Saturdays 11am & Sundays 11am
The Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI present
Manila in the Claws of Light
Lino Brocka
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Philippines
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1975
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Unclassified (15+)
When
Wed 29 Oct 2025
See below for additional related events
Adapted from a popular serialised novel by Edgardo M. Reyes, Brocka’s incendiary film follows Julio (Bembol Roco) who arrives in Manila in search of his girlfriend Ligaya (Hilda Koronel) and is quickly ensnared in the city’s destructive tendrils. Told with the docu-realist approach that was the director’s trademark, scenes of exploitation and social inequality are contrasted with highly stylised images of urban commercialism.
Made during an era of martial law, Brocka’s portrait of political upheaval and resistance under dictatorship was, very surprisingly, approved by the censors without cuts. Winner of nine Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards.
Courtesy of the Cineteca di Bologna.
Format: DCP
Language: Tagalog and English with English subtitles
Source: Cineteca di Bologna
Runtime: 124 mins
About Melbourne Cinémathèque
Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.
Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven.
