Filipino queer film ‘About Us But Not About Us’ premieres February 24 at the Queer Screen’s 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney, Australia.
The festival describes the film, which stars Elijah Canlas (known for his titular role in the BL series ‘Gameboys’) and veteran actor Romnick Sarmenta, as “masterfully constructed” and is “[g]uaranteed to keep audiences guessing.”
Australian Premiere tonight of the BEST FILM at the POFF Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Critics Pick! Jun Robles Lana’s ABOUT US BUT NOT ABOUT US screens tonight at Queer Screen’s 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival! pic.twitter.com/IrFMwNqSvf
— The IdeaFirst Company (@theideafirst_co) February 24, 2023
‘About Us But Not About Us’ is a 91-minute film set in post-COVID-19 lockdown Manila where Eric (Sarmenta), a gay professor who is grieving the loss of his partner, meets Lance (Canlas), a young literature student, in a restaurant. Their initially simple conversation “becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse in which startling revelations are made,” according to Queer Screen.
In an earlier interview, director Jun Robles Lana said that ‘About Us But Not About Us’ is a deeply personal project. He said that this title came about at a time of depression and described it as “part fiction, part confessional” as he shared in this movie, traumas that “stifled [him] much of [his life], including being molested as a child.”
Because of the themes of the movie, Queer Screen posted content warnings for discussions of suicide, child abuse, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lana and film producer Perci Intalan was supposed to participate in a Q&A, however, due to conflicting schedules, they will no longer be able to attend.
‘About Us But Not About Us’ previously won the Best Film award in the Critics’ Pick Competition at the 26th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia in November 2022.
