Special event closing short film

Un breve incontro A Brief Encounter

Directed by Liryc Dela Cruz
Italy 2026
Runtime 20'

Kath, an Italian Filipina content moderator working remotely from Genova, learns that a colleague in the Philippines has taken his own life, broken by the same work that fills her days, the endless sorting of beheadings, torture, livestreamed suicides, the abuse of children. She gives herself two days of rest, then extends her stay, no longer sure she can return to the screen. A booked massage brings her to Jenny, a Filipina domestic worker who tends bodies as a sideline, and the ordinary hour becomes something neither expected. Two women carrying different absences find a way to be seen. Where the screen once only wounded, a new image begins to heal.

Directed by
Liryc Dela Cruz

Screenplay
Liryc Dela Cruz

Cinematography
Filippo Mariano

Editing
Liryc Dela Cruz

Music
Radio Hito/ Zen My Nguyen

Sound
Giovanni Sideri, Antonio Giannantonio

Production Design
Liryc Dela Cruz

Cast
Kathleen Magpantay, Jenny Ilanto Caringal, Benjamin Vasquez Barcellano Jr.

Production
Liryc Dela Cruz, Moira Lang (Pelircula), Paolo Sideri, Matteo Giampetruzzi, Sara Cecconi (Cinema Fuoristrada), Giulia Delvecchio (Ancora Film), Il mio filippino Collective

SIC@SIC 2026 - Liryc Dela Cruz

Liryc Dela Cruz (1992) is a filmmaker and artist born in Mindanao, Philippines, and from Rome, Italy. His debut feature Come la notte premiered at the 75. Berlinale and won the Golden Goblet for Best Director (Asian New Talent) at the 27. Shanghai IFF. He works between cinema and contemporary art, across film, installation and performance. A member of Il Mio Filippino Collective, he has presented his work at Locarno, the Venice Biennale, the MACRO Museum in Rome, the Lincoln Center and the Berlinale, among others.