QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema) brings success for filmmakers another notch higher as it announces that its list of grantees will now be entered in the competition in its segment, the Asian Next Wave (ANW).

For the past six years, QCinema provided grants to new and seasoned filmmakers entering its Circle Competition, a category for local independent features. The grantees this year will have to be in the contest in ANW, which brings in select films from all over Asia.

Among the films by the grantees under ANW are Arnel Barbarona’s Kaaway sa Sulod, Rae Red’s Babae at Baril, and Glenn Barit’s Cleaners. The filmmakers will each be given a production grant of one and a half million pesos while retaining the rights to their films.

The filmmakers will compete for the Pylon Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Artistic Achievement, as well as NETPAC Jury Prize and Gender Sensitivity.

Kaaway sa Sulod tells the story of two women, an army officer and a guerrilla fighter, who cross paths in a mission and find out they are mirror images of each other. They uncover a dark past that unites them more in the midst of conflict.

In Babae at Baril, a department store saleslady has had enough of being an underdog. One night, she discovers a peculiar-looking gun right on her doorstep. Her life drastically changes as she discovers how much power owning a gun can give her.

Cleaners by Glenn Barit is a story of different students from a high school cleaners group each dealing with different pressures of being clean and pure while also slowly discovering how the world is dirty and superficial, to begin with. QCinema will showcase ANW from October 13 to 22, 2019. Visit https://www.facebook.com/QCinemaPH/ for more details.