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Insiang film image; woman carrying basket on head

“Instead of working in his ivory tower, the filmmaker is a citizen of the slums, of the streets, of the battlefields if need be.” Lino Brocka

Jealousy and violence take center stage in this claustrophobic melodrama, a tautly constructed character study set in the slums of Manila. Lino Brocka crafts an eviscerating portrait of an innocent daughter and her bitter mother as women scorned. Insiang leads a quiet life dominated by household duties, but after she is raped by her mother’s lover and abandoned by the young man who claims to care for her, she exacts vicious revenge. A savage commentary on the degradations of urban poverty, especially for women, Insiang was the first Philippine film ever to play at Cannes.

Brocka, working with his excellent director of photography, Conrado Baltazar, creates images of startling power, like that of bloody hands clutching in the void.

Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Intense, furious melodrama.

Richard Brody, New Yorker

Insiang is Othello set in the slums of Tondo, Manila, with an innocent angel transformed into Iago; the lust and ferocity of Brocka and O’Hara’s version is startling to see.

Noel Vera, Senses of Cinema

Director

Lino Brocka

Cast

Hilda Koronel, Mona Lisa, Ruel Vernal, Rez Cortez

Credits
Country of Origin

Philippines

Year

1976

Language

In Tagalog with English subtitles

19+
94 min

Book Tickets

Sunday January 12

6:00 pm
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre
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Thursday January 16

6:30 pm
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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Credits

Screenwriter

Mario O’Hara, Lamberto E. Antonio

Cinematography

Conrado Baltazar

Editor

Augusto Salvador

Original Music

Minda D. Azarcon

Art Director

Fiel Zabat

Also in This Series

Bona (New 4K Restoration)

Dir. Lino Brocka
88 min

Philippine superstar Nora Aunor plays against type as Bona, a schoolgirl infatuated with a hunky supporting actor (Phillip Salvador as the noxious Gardo) in this kicky rediscovered Lino Brocka classic.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Victor Noriega's Kuyatet + Lino Brocka's Manila in the Claws of Light

Dir. Lino Brocka
200 min

To celebrate our spotlight on Filipino director Lino Brocka, we are pairing a screening of Manila in the Claws of Light with an hour of jazz interpretations of Filipino music led by Victor Noriega, with his band Kuyatet ("Kuya" means "Brother" in Tagalog).

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

National Anarchist: Lino Brocka

Dir. Khavn De La Cruz
70 min

If you don't have time to work your way through all 60-odd features Lino Brocka made between 1970 and 1991, let his compatriot and acolyte, video artist Khavn De La Cruz, fast-forward through them for you in this fragmentary, fired-up super cut.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Insiang

Dir. Lino Brocka
94 min

Jealousy and violence take center stage in this claustrophobic melodrama set in the slums of Manila. Lino Brocka crafts an eviscerating portrait of an innocent daughter and her bitter mother, used and abused by men.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Manila in the Claws of Light

Dir. Lino Brocka
125 min

A pungent slice of neo-realist noir, Manila in the Claws of Light is regarded as the greatest Philippine movie ever made. It's the story of a fisherman, Julio, who comes to the big city in the footsteps of his fiancée, who has gone missing.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre