Lav Diaz at Locarno: Cinema, Activism, and the Search for Truth

At the Locarno Film Festival, Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (born 1958 in Datu Paglas) presented a new film that continues his exploration of police corruption, political violence, and the search for truth. The film serves as a natural prequel to his 2022 Venice Film Festival entry "When The Waves Are Gone," which also featured actor Hermes Papauran as a tormented police officer obsessed with an unsolved case—the murder of young model and environmental activist Esmeralda, dubbed the "Philippine eagle." Diaz shot the first part in digital and the second on film, reflecting the detective's dual journey from clarity to blur. In an interview, Diaz discussed his portrayal of a "good cop" torn between animal and rational instincts, the significance of missing bodies in his work (especially under the regimes of Ferdinand Marcos and Rodrigo Duterte), and the hope inherent in his characters' relentless search. He noted that his films have become shorter organically, not deliberately, and that he is working on an 11-hour film for next year. Diaz also reflected on the cyclical return of the Marcos family to power, calling Ferdinand Marcos Sr. "probably the worst Filipino who ever existed" and blaming Duterte for rehabilitating the Marcos ideology. The interview was conducted by Bianca Montanaro and Marco Romagna for Artribune.