
Directing
Lav Diaz
Born
1958-12-30 (67)
Place of birth
Columbio, Sultan Kudarat, Philippines
Known for
Directing
Credits
73 titles
Lavrente 'Lav' Indico Diaz (born December 30, 1958) is a Filipino independent filmmaker and former film critic. He is known as one of the key practitioners of the slow cinema genre, producing a diverse range of some of the longest narrative films that explore social and political issues, minimalistic storytelling, long takes, and cinematic form. Although he had been making films since the late 1990s, Diaz didn't attract much public attention outside of the Philippines and the festival circuit until the release of Norte, the End of History, which was entered into Un Certain Regard section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. His three subsequent films have received much critical attention and m…
Known for
6.3At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan leads an expedition under the Spanish crown in search of the first westward route to the Spice Islands. He embarks on a perilous journey across the uncharted Pacific, where his fleet faces starvation, mutiny, and the psychological toll of endless seas. Upon reaching the shores of Cebu, Magellan is pulled into a fatal conflict with the natives by his drive to spread Catholicism, culminating in his tragic doom.
Magellan
2025
5.01617, Las Islas Filipinas. The Spanish friar, Father Enciso, the encomendero of one of the islands, rules with unrelenting toughness and an insatiable libido to tame the savages.
Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors
2026
5.0Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
6.9After three decades' wrongful incarceration for murder, a woman discovers that her friend and fellow inmate committed the murder of which she was accused. This leads to her release and subsequent discovery of the man who framed her — her ruling class ex-lover.
The Woman Who Left
2016
7.4An embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced to take a harsh sentence; and a mother and her two children wander the countryside in search of some kind of redemption.
Norte, the End of History
2014
NRThis biographical documentary honors Doy del Mundo’s lifelong devotion to education, film, and public service; his pioneering role in shaping Philippine film education; and his enduring impact on institutions and generations he helped build and uplift.
Del Mundo
2025
Film credits
2020s · 10 titles
NRThis biographical documentary honors Doy del Mundo’s lifelong devotion to education, film, and public service; his pioneering role in shaping Philippine film education; and his enduring impact on institutions and generations he helped build and uplift.
Del Mundo
2025
5.7In a sophisticated near perfect society, citizens live with paper bags on heads to dissolve differences. Tensions rise when the whispers of a mythical land without the bags start to float and a fresh council member sparks an accidental revolution.
Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust
2024
NRA young filmmaker is bent on recreating forgotten massacres from Philippine history, but when she begins shooting at a site where 1,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered, angry spirits are awakened and the lives of her team and the local villagers are put in peril.
Cinemartyrs
2025
NRA dreamer with a calm and minstrel attitude lays on the grass, recites a poem and makes an offer to a tree. Is he dreaming, or is he a part of a dream? A contemporary peasant dress in a nostalgic revolution’s uniform, goes with his work routine in the countryside, takes care of the cows and thinks about the meaning of death and dream. The real documents and fiction blends into the path of the characters in a rural area in Cuba, and becomes a metaphor of an island inside another island or a dream inside another dream.
Atravesando el campo
2021
2.0Driving around the streets of Cuba, Lav Diaz – the famous Filipino director – and Gustavo Flecha - a talkative Cuban taxi driver – find themselves discussing about politics, migration, social conditions and love; touching many personal stories and experiences, they create an historical affresco of the conditions of their own countries.
Taxibol
2023
NR"Life in 24 Frames a Second" is a film about hardship, misfortune, perseverance and triumph. The personal stories of John Woo (The Killer), Anurag Kashyap (Sacred Games), Rithy Panh (The Missing Picture) and Lav Diaz (The Woman Who Left), who survived extreme poverty, disease, sexual abuse, genocide and civil war to go on to become maestros of world cinema. 'Survivors' united by their abiding love of the movies.
Life in 24 Frames a Second
2021
NRIn this whimsical historical fresco, a counterpoint to today’s urgent political issues, the figure of the Filipino revolutionary Rizal is revisited in the light of early silent films.
Rizal's Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge
2024
NRAn actor with an illustrious career decides to write, direct, and act in a film that will inevitably bring him closer to his own demise before revealing that his truth may actually be far from what he has become.
Real Life Fiction
2024
NRIn dreary Porac Pampanga, a young man, Daniel, abandons his motherland after winning the biggest cash prize in the history of Philippine lottery. Five years later, he is searching for home and redemption through the people that make up his past. With each visit, his story unfolds like the last digit of a winning combination.
Moneyslapper
2024
The Devil of Comparisons (original title: El Demonio de las Comparaciones), was a 30-hour black & white silent film from 1929 by Narding Salome Exelsio (1883-1949). It explores the cyclical lives, deaths, and rebirths of Jose Rizal and his characters (played by hitherto unidentified actors) in a wasteland ruled by demons.
The Devil of Comparisons
2022
2010s · 17 titles
5.0Stories abound in Cebu about a woman rumored to be a murderous monster, but behind the myth is a mother seeking justice.
Lily
2016
6.5Structured and less beholden to its narrative, a 19th-century woman visits present-day Philippines and observes three interwoven stories: those of a prostitute, a group of criminals, and a musician.
Elegy to the Visitor From the Revolution
2011
NRA one-of-a-kind legacy project produced by TBA Studios, Habambuhay is a homage to the centennial anniversary of Philippine cinema–an insightfully entertaining documentary series, revisiting the personal experiences of those who work in front of or behind the cameras, those who have shaped the film industry of the Philippines for the longest time.
Habambuhay: Remembering Philippine Cinema
2019
4.8Documentary profiling the directors involved in the loose Philippine New Wave filmmaking movement.
Philippine New Wave: This Is Not a Film Movement
2010
5.0An intimate and often heartbreaking portrait of one of the Philippines' most beloved screen icons.
The Last Pinoy Action King
2015
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Jeonju Digital Project 2012
2012
NRIn a village of Cuba devastated after trying to imitate the north american suburb model, a sound recorder tries to tape sounds for an incoming blockbuster about a giant monster that destroys a whole town.
Blockbuster Where a Giant Monster Destroys a Town
2019
The documentary serves as a tribute to National Artist for Cinema Gerardo de Leon in celebration of his Centennial Year. “Salamat sa Alaala.” is inspired by the music composed by the late film director when he was a teenager playing background music for silent movies in Manila theatres. The video opens up with a capsulated history of the birth of the Filipino movies followed by a series of shots of veteran actresses, the academe and the young generation of filmmakers affirming his unique qualities as a world-class film figure. Then we unravel his private life as a family man. The documentary is one way of thanking him for his lasting legacy in the art form he left behind.
Salamat sa Alaala
2015
Documentary about the history of Philippine cinema.
Return to Manila: Filipino Cinema
2010
5.0Early 20th century Philippines. The sounds of war signal the arrival of the Americans. A mother and son flee to the mountains, hoping for a quiet life. One day, the son discovers a wounded woman in the middle of the forest, and decides to bring her home.
Independencia
2010
A group of friends, sharing a passion for cinema, assemble in Corregidor, a small island in Manila Bay that has preserved relics from the Pacific War as its foremost attractions. There, they explore the island and retire in a rustic mansion used once to make silent films. Outside the city, the woods and sea become a meeting place for more movie personalities and it all becomes a celebration of what was left behind.
The Great Cinema Party
2012
NRJingle Chordbook Magazine, first published in 1970, promptly taught a generation of Filipinos to play the guitar. Its story also explores how a small independent publication survived the weight of its time – the dark Martial Law years – and how it inspired the Filipino youth to think for themselves and wield the guitar like a weapon. The documentary “Jingle Lang Ang Pahina” tells the story of Jingle, its ragtag crew, and its loyal fans in a rambling, multi-layered narrative told in different voices and perspectives by the writers, artists, fans, collectors, musicians, freaks.
Jingle lang ang Pahina
2012
8.5Lorna is sixty year old woman who is constantly searching for the right man, having failed at so many relationships. Having lived close to a lifetime alone, she decides to take another stab at moving on and more importantly, love.
Lorna
2014
6.0Pepe, a 68-year-old impersonator of a Filipino rock legend, lives alone on the borders of reality, imagination and mysticism. One day, he is finally given the chance to open for the rock legend’s concert but he must do something neither of them has done before – write a love song.
Singing in Graveyards
2016
NRAn industry veteran is given a chance to produce and star in his own movie. But he quickly finds movie production isn't quite as glamorous as it seems.
Echoserang Frog
2014
5.0A news team investigating rumors of aswang killings in a remote barrio are attacked by a group of soldiers, forcing them to run for their lives in the deeps of the forest, where more mystery and danger lay in wait.
Salvage
2015
7.3Colossal explores the complexities of grief and the process of grieving as understood through the myth of a Man as he ventures through shifting landscapes ruminating.
Colossal
2012
2000s · 5 titles
Juan Baybayin searches for the early alphabet of the Filipino and the journey takes him to different kind of adventures. A personal insights of the filmmaker regarding the baybayin-the early Filipino writings before the Spanish colonizers came to the island.
Green Rocking Chair
2007
6.4A tribute to filmmakers and National Artists Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. In the "Day" segment, Piolo Pacual portrays the role of William, a drug addict who tries to rebuild his sense of self and reconnect with the people around him. For the "Night" segment, Pascual portrays the role of Philip, who works as a bodyguard for a mayor's son. The bodyguard believes that his boss considers him as part of the family but after a shooting incident, he realizes his real worth to his boss. As he struggles to hide, he is slowly consumed by the claws of darkness lurking the city.
Manila
2009
5.2Basically an artist is also a terrorist, the protagonist thinks in an unguarded moment. And if he is a terrorist after all, then he might just as well be one. Not an instant product, but an experimental feature in which diary material is brought together to form an intriguing puzzle.
Todo Todo Teros
2006
8.0The start of the film sets the tone. A tortured man looks as if he will castrate himself. Later he staggers aimlessly and bleeding heavily through the streets of a town that is just waking up. In parallel, the film shows the marital discussions of a couple, with the husband hiding behind the camera.
Headless
2004
NRInspired by a true news account, this is the astounding story of a lone deranged hijacker who has struggled to survive in the chaos of modern Philippine society.
Manila Skies
2009
Behind the camera
6.3At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan leads an expedition under the Spanish crown in search of the first westward route to the Spice Islands. He embarks on a perilous journey across the uncharted Pacific, where his fleet faces starvation, mutiny, and the psychological toll of endless seas. Upon reaching the shores of Cebu, Magellan is pulled into a fatal conflict with the natives by his drive to spread Catholicism, culminating in his tragic doom.
Magellan
2025
6.3At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan leads an expedition under the Spanish crown in search of the first westward route to the Spice Islands. He embarks on a perilous journey across the uncharted Pacific, where his fleet faces starvation, mutiny, and the psychological toll of endless seas. Upon reaching the shores of Cebu, Magellan is pulled into a fatal conflict with the natives by his drive to spread Catholicism, culminating in his tragic doom.
Magellan
2025
5.01617, Las Islas Filipinas. The Spanish friar, Father Enciso, the encomendero of one of the islands, rules with unrelenting toughness and an insatiable libido to tame the savages.
Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors
2026
5.01617, Las Islas Filipinas. The Spanish friar, Father Enciso, the encomendero of one of the islands, rules with unrelenting toughness and an insatiable libido to tame the savages.
Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors
2026
5.0Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
5.0Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
6.9After three decades' wrongful incarceration for murder, a woman discovers that her friend and fellow inmate committed the murder of which she was accused. This leads to her release and subsequent discovery of the man who framed her — her ruling class ex-lover.
The Woman Who Left
2016
6.9After three decades' wrongful incarceration for murder, a woman discovers that her friend and fellow inmate committed the murder of which she was accused. This leads to her release and subsequent discovery of the man who framed her — her ruling class ex-lover.
The Woman Who Left
2016
7.4An embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced to take a harsh sentence; and a mother and her two children wander the countryside in search of some kind of redemption.
Norte, the End of History
2014
7.4An embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced to take a harsh sentence; and a mother and her two children wander the countryside in search of some kind of redemption.
Norte, the End of History
2014
7.8Andrés Bonifacio is celebrated as the father of the Philippines Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. This eight-hour epic examines this myth, undertaking an expedition into history through various interwoven narrative threads, held together by an exploration of the individual’s role in history.
A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery
2016
7.8Andrés Bonifacio is celebrated as the father of the Philippines Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. This eight-hour epic examines this myth, undertaking an expedition into history through various interwoven narrative threads, held together by an exploration of the individual’s role in history.
A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery
2016
7.8Andrés Bonifacio is celebrated as the father of the Philippines Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. This eight-hour epic examines this myth, undertaking an expedition into history through various interwoven narrative threads, held together by an exploration of the individual’s role in history.
A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery
2016
7.5The Philippines is visited by an average of 20~28 strong typhoons and storms every year. It is the most storm-battered country in the world. Last year, Typhoon Haiyan, considered the strongest storm in history, struck the Philipines, leaving in its path apocalyptic devastation.
Storm Children
2014
7.8Spanning from 1971 to 1987, in rural areas under the Marcos regime, a poor farming family struggle to overcome challenges brought on by corruption and greed for power.
Evolution of a Filipino Family
2004
7.8Spanning from 1971 to 1987, in rural areas under the Marcos regime, a poor farming family struggle to overcome challenges brought on by corruption and greed for power.
Evolution of a Filipino Family
2004
7.8Spanning from 1971 to 1987, in rural areas under the Marcos regime, a poor farming family struggle to overcome challenges brought on by corruption and greed for power.
Evolution of a Filipino Family
2004
7.0One of the Philippines' top investigators, Lieutenant Hermes Papauran, faces a deep moral crossroads. As a firsthand witness of the murderous anti-drug campaign conducted by his force, his anxiety and guilt triggers a severe skin disease, and his healing process is fraught by his dark past.
When the Waves Are Gone
2023
7.0One of the Philippines' top investigators, Lieutenant Hermes Papauran, faces a deep moral crossroads. As a firsthand witness of the murderous anti-drug campaign conducted by his force, his anxiety and guilt triggers a severe skin disease, and his healing process is fraught by his dark past.
When the Waves Are Gone
2023
7.2Three people start a strange therapy to escape their agonies. Each attempts to process those they lost during the Marcos dictatorship while examining their own grief.
Melancholia
2008
7.2Three people start a strange therapy to escape their agonies. Each attempts to process those they lost during the Marcos dictatorship while examining their own grief.
Melancholia
2008
7.0Faced with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody murders and brazen lies, ethically conflicted police lieutenant Hermes Papauran continues his struggle to find a resolution to a 15-year-old case around a volcanic ash-laden landscape and an impenetrable lake.
Essential Truths of the Lake
2023
7.0Faced with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody murders and brazen lies, ethically conflicted police lieutenant Hermes Papauran continues his struggle to find a resolution to a 15-year-old case around a volcanic ash-laden landscape and an impenetrable lake.
Essential Truths of the Lake
2023
7.0Faced with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody murders and brazen lies, ethically conflicted police lieutenant Hermes Papauran continues his struggle to find a resolution to a 15-year-old case around a volcanic ash-laden landscape and an impenetrable lake.
Essential Truths of the Lake
2023
7.9The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad, and houses are burned. Ferdinand Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081, putting the entire country under martial law.
From What Is Before
2014
7.9The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad, and houses are burned. Ferdinand Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081, putting the entire country under martial law.
From What Is Before
2014
7.9The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad, and houses are burned. Ferdinand Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081, putting the entire country under martial law.
From What Is Before
2014
6.4Madmen control Manila in 2034 after massive volcanic eruptions have plunged Southeast Asia into darkness.
The Halt
2019
6.4Madmen control Manila in 2034 after massive volcanic eruptions have plunged Southeast Asia into darkness.
The Halt
2019
7.8When a Filipino teen is found fatally shot on the streets of New Jersey, the investigation into his death reveals the struggles of the Filipino-American community, including the horrifying effects of methamphetamine on its youth.
Batang West Side
2001
7.8When a Filipino teen is found fatally shot on the streets of New Jersey, the investigation into his death reveals the struggles of the Filipino-American community, including the horrifying effects of methamphetamine on its youth.
Batang West Side
2001
9.0With the imminent death of his autocratic grandfather, coinciding with the burgeoning oppressive regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Servando Monzon III, inheritor of the hacienda and businesses of his powerful clan, agonises on becoming the new feudal lord and capitulating with Marcos’ designs to control the Philippines. Aware of his clan’s long history of violence, Monzon knows the very violent history of his county and foresees a very violent future with the dictatorship.
A Tale of Filipino Violence
2022
9.0With the imminent death of his autocratic grandfather, coinciding with the burgeoning oppressive regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Servando Monzon III, inheritor of the hacienda and businesses of his powerful clan, agonises on becoming the new feudal lord and capitulating with Marcos’ designs to control the Philippines. Aware of his clan’s long history of violence, Monzon knows the very violent history of his county and foresees a very violent future with the dictatorship.
A Tale of Filipino Violence
2022
8.0A wandering peddler suddenly decides to separates from his group of travellers, his reasons are unknown and the dangers will be many.
Heremias: Book One - The Legend of the Lizard Princess
2006
8.0A wandering peddler suddenly decides to separates from his group of travellers, his reasons are unknown and the dangers will be many.
Heremias: Book One - The Legend of the Lizard Princess
2006
5.9A young woman recalls how her father (a fallen priest), her mother (a woman with a secret past) and her teenage sister returned with her to live in their ancestral home after the family business failed. She was plagued with mysterious problems of sleepwalking and began a romance with a young man who tried to cure her.
Naked Under the Moon
1999
5.9A young woman recalls how her father (a fallen priest), her mother (a woman with a secret past) and her teenage sister returned with her to live in their ancestral home after the family business failed. She was plagued with mysterious problems of sleepwalking and began a romance with a young man who tried to cure her.
Naked Under the Moon
1999
6.0A man appears to a female reporter and claims he is the famous kidnapper that has the world astir and promises to turn himself in if she listens to his story. Though she is suspicious of him, she starts to fall more and more into his story.
Serafin Geronimo: The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion
1998
6.0A man appears to a female reporter and claims he is the famous kidnapper that has the world astir and promises to turn himself in if she listens to his story. Though she is suspicious of him, she starts to fall more and more into his story.
Serafin Geronimo: The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion
1998
6.5Structured and less beholden to its narrative, a 19th-century woman visits present-day Philippines and observes three interwoven stories: those of a prostitute, a group of criminals, and a musician.
Elegy to the Visitor From the Revolution
2011
