13th Active Vista Human Rights Festival

SEPTEMBER 19 - 28, 2025

We Filipinos have long called ourselves malas every time something bad happens. But what do we call it when we seem to be unlucky all our lives?

Malas tuwing may bagyo. Malas kapag nawalan ng trabaho. Malas pag hindi nakapasok sa eskwela. Malas sa gobyerno, sa buhay, sa kapalaran.

But this year, the Active Vista Human Rights Festival: Trese asks:
Malas nga ba tayong mga Pilipino — O pinaniwala lang tayong malas tayo?

We are not cursed by fate. We are made to suffer by the human-made curses; systems built to fail us: corruption, inequality, historical distortion, impunity.

When floods drown our homes, we say we’re unlucky to live in a disaster-prone land.
But the real disaster is a government that cuts environmental budgets, silences climate defenders, and leaves the poor to sink.

When workers lose jobs or can’t live off minimum wage, we call it bad luck.
But the truth is: policies that keep wages low and rights unprotected are what make luck run out.

When public school students struggle with outdated modules or drop out, we blame fate.
But the real tragedy lies in the chronic neglect of our education system — where access is a privilege, and learning is sacrificed.

When activists are red-tagged, silenced, or killed, we say they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But what is more unlucky: to speak truth to power, or to live in a system where truth is punished?

TRESE is not just a theme but a reckoning.
Of stories buried under years of gaslighting.
Of lives diminished by narratives that tell us our suffering is normal, natural, deserved.

This year, the Active Vista Human Rights Festival: Trese calls on us to look deeper into the seemingly unseen forces that shape our lives: not supernatural beings, but systems of oppression that haunt our everyday realities.
To name the curse:  corruption, repression, and impunity, not of folklore, but of our present.
To trace the curse back to its makers.

Because malas is not just about mis/fortune.
It is about forgetting how power works.
And remembering that it can be challenged.

This year, we say:
We are not malas.
We are made to believe that we are malas–
And so, we refuse to be: at homes, in communities, on the streets, and across the nation.

With our collective power, creativity, and courage, we will put an end to this systemic gaslighting and finally declare: enough.

Festival Events

Filipino Shorts Competition Awarding

September 27, 2025 | 6 PM – 7 PM

Sine Pop

This year’s FRAMES short film competition is focused on discovering and supporting young filmmakers from the Philippines who are deeply committed to human rights.

Drag Me to Court!

A Drag show + Open Mic Night with "Tipping the Scales" Film Screening

(with Human Rights and People Empowerment Center)

October 10, 2025 | 5:00 PM

Harong Cafe, Quezon City

With performances by: Pura Luka Vega | Italya | Skinishaaa | Androjenny | Ja Quintana | Gab Cabangon | Sof Carpizo

SA PAGBABA NG LUKSA Art Exhibition

(with College of St. Benilde – Center for Social Action, UE – Buklod Sining, Museum of Contemporary Arts and Design (MCAD), Benilde Arts Management (BeAM) and Silingan Coffee)

September 24, 2025 | 1 PM

The Atrium Lobby, College of St. Benilde

Festival Opening: Magellan by Lav Diaz

(with Black Cap Pictures, Lunchbox, and Red Carpet Cinemas)

September 19, 2025 | 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Shangrila Cinema 3

Kicking off this year’s festival is the Philippines’ official entry to the 98th Academy Awards, Magellan by Lav Diaz.

Festival Screenings

I’m Still Here by Walter Salles

October 4, 2025 | 3:00PM

UPFI Film Center

FREE ADMISSION

Bunso by Ditsi Carolino

[POSTPONED] - New schedule to be announced soon

UPFI Film Center

PhP200.00 Regular
PhP150.00 Student, PWD and Senior Citizen

Food Delivery: Fresh From the West Philippine Sea by Baby Ruth Villarama

October 4, 2025 | 6:00PM

UPFI Film Center

PhP250.00 Regular
PhP200.00 Student, PWD and Senior Citizen

Naila and the Uprising by Julia Bacha

[POSTPONED] - New schedule to be announced soon

UPFI Film Center

FREE ADMISSION

11,103 by Jeannette Ifurung and Mike Alcazaren

September 24 | 9 AM – 12 PM

UST Central Lab Auditorium

11,103 by Jeannette Ifurung and Mike Alcazaren

September 22 | 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM

FEU

11,103 by Jeannette Ifurung and Mike Alcazaren

September 22 | 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM

Miriam College Henry Sy. Innovation Center

Delikado by Karl Malakunas

September 20 | 8 PM

Online via Kinema

Join us in discovering what these places are and why they were made so at the online screening of Delikado by Karl Malakunas, followed by a live Q&A with Bobby Chan, Karl Malakunas, and Tata Balladares, moderated by Julian Etienne.

Filipino Shorts Competition

September 20 | 6 PM – 8 PM

Sine Pop, Quezon City

This year’s FRAMES short film competition is focused on discovering and supporting young filmmakers from the Philippines who are deeply committed to human rights.

Aswang by Alyx Ayn Arumpac

(with Photo Exhibit of Raffy Lerma)

September 20 | 9 AM – 12 PM

UP Film Media Center Studio

Festival Forums

Southeast Asian Short Films Exhibition & Discussion

Empty Closets | On Queer Liberation

(with ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, Co. Lab)

September 26 | 7 PM – 9 PM

Co. Lab

This forum gathers narratives of love, survival, and resistance, reminding us that queer stories are not margins, but essential threads of our collective fight for human rights.

Ain’t I A Woman? | On Women’s Empowerment

September 28 | 6 PM

Sine Pop, Quezon City

This forum listens to stories that challenge patriarchy and affirm women’s place at the center of shaping just and equal futures.

Not on Our Watch | On Freedom of Expression

(with Engage Media, Co. Lab)

September 27 | 1 PM – 3 PM

Sine Pop, Quezon City

This forum spotlights stories of courage from those who dare to speak truth to power, affirming that the freedom to create and express cannot, and must not, be silenced.

Grasping at the Root | On Climate Justice

(with Alyansa Tigil Mina, Co. Lab)

September 28 | 2 PM

Sine Pop, Quezon City

This forum digs deep into the roots of the environmental crisis, centering communities who resist destruction and reimagine futures where both people and planet can thrive.

The Fires We Inherit | On Labor

(with Mayday Multimedia, Philippine Labor Movement Archive, and Co. Lab)

September 28 | 4 PM

Sine Pop, Quezon City

This forum reflects on labor’s unfinished battles and the collective fires we must carry forward.

One Death is Too Many | On Extra-Judicial Killings

(With College of St. Benilde – Center for Social Action, MCAD, PAHRA)

September 19 | 12 PM – 2 PM

MCAD Multimedia Room

Through film and dialogue, this forum confronts the narratives that justified violence and asks how to resist forgetting, preserve truth, and seek justice.

Satellite Festivals