Lav Diaz on a lazy afternoon at the frontyard of his residence in Sampaloc, Quezon. Totel V. de Jesus
While most younger filmmakers dream of hopping from one film festivals to another overseas, besides being treated like a celebrity, 67-year-old acclaimed auteur Lav Diaz is concentrating on creating cinema and soon, farming in Sampaloc, Quezon, where he’s been a resident since 2022.
He has reached that level of “been there, done that” when it comes to getting international recognitions from credible critics and festivals.
“Life here in Sampaloc is simple and peaceful. I’m miles away and free from ‘[film-festival, art-show] openings’ and [the temptation to drink] glasses of red wine,” he told ABS-CBN News on Wednesday in Filipino.
Since he bought a small piece of land on the hills to build his dream house that will also function as film studio and film school, it was not farfetched for him to go into farming. It is something he knows by heart before he became a filmmaker.
“Lumaki talaga ako sa kabukiran, kagubatan at kabundukan ng Maguindanao. Nagtatanim kami ng palay at mais. Maliban sa pagiging guro at social workers, mahuhusay na magsasaka ang aking mga magulang. Hanggang ngayon magaling pa rin akong magtanim ng palay, ma-upland rice man o palay sa basakan (sa tubigan). Kung babalik ako sa pagsasaka, ganun pa rin, palay at mais, at mga prutas; mga bulaklak rin, dahil mahusay maghardin ang aking Inang,” Diaz said.
(I grew up in a farmland deep in the forests and mountains of Maguindanao. We planted rice and corn. My parents, aside from being teachers and social workers, were also skillful farmers. That’s why, until now, I know how to plant rice, whether upland rice or wetland rice. If I am going back to farming, I’d plant the same crops, rice and corn, and some fruits and flowers. My mother was a good gardener, with a green thumb.)
He’s been to Europe and the US in January this year for the promotional tour with talk-back sessions for “Magellan,” but recently, he felt there’s a need to stay put and finish his new film.
In this hilly town in the summer of 2024, he shot a few scenes for “Magellan,” and earlier in 2022, for “Ang Kawalan ng Kawalan,” a co-production with Diaz’s Sine Olivia Pilipinas and Tanghalang Pilipino Foundation. Set before World War II during the Commonwealth period, the film seems to be “forever” in post-production.
In late 2024 to early 2025, he finished “Phantosmia,” which was shot 90-percent in the town proper, rivers and the mountainous terrains of Sampaloc.
In our earlier interview, he said he has plans of conducting film workshops, given the chance and resources. Though Diaz’s wish was just one of those musings while having coffee on a lazy afternoon, the local government of Sampaloc was listening.
Diaz agreed to be part of a four-day workshop titled “Regional Filmmaking Workshop,” appropriately subtitled, “Where Stories Begin: Rooted in Place,” from June 4 to June 7, 2026, in Sampaloc.
However, he clarified he’s not the regular workshop mentor.
“Hindi ako ‘lecture guy’, ‘tol. Walang istraktura ang paglikha ko. Gumagawa lang ako ng sarili kong pamamaraan, pananaw at lengguwahe sa cinema, kaya kuwentuhan lang ang mangyayari. Sasagutin ko lang ang mga tanong nila,” Diaz told ABS-CBN News.
(I am not into giving lectures. It’s not my thing when it comes to creating discourse. I have my own methods, points of view and language in cinema. That’s why, it would be some kind of informal conversation with the attendees. I will answer their questions the best I can.)
Based on the Sine Sampaloc Film Festival social media page, the workshop is “designed as a continuous creative cycle where participants are trained early in the year and immediately apply their skills in documenting Sampaloc’s cultural festivals, culminating in the Sine Sampaloc Film Festival in September this year.”
The announcement also said it is open to “aspiring filmmakers, storytellers, students, educators, media practitioners, creatives based in Quezon and nearby provinces.”
Diaz recent masterpiece, “Magellan,” is still being shown in cinematheques and festivals around the world. He has declined to attend more premieres abroad, most recently in Melbourne, Australia, where some of his films will be shown in a museum until August.
‘No intellectualism, academic jargons’
“Magtuturo rin ako sa Bologna, Italy sa June at sa Hong Kong ((kung di ako palalayasin ni Xi Jinping), mula August hanggang September, pero ganun din, tambay lang, kuwentuhan. Mas titingnan lang ang katotohanan ng buhay, at i-a-angkop sa midyum ng cinema, walang intelektuwalismo, walang jargon, walang akademyang metodolohiya,” he said.
(I also have an invitation to teach in Bologna, Italy, in June and Hong Kong from August to September [unless Xi Jinping would throw me out], but it would be the same approach — relaxed and laidback talks — like a bum in the street. I will merely explore truths about life that align with the medium of cinema, without intellectualism, jargons and devoid of academic methodologies.)
“Nagtuturo rin ako sa Cuba tuwing Marso, kaya lang ‘di na ako nakakasipot sa dami nang gawain at pananim sa Sampaloc, ‘tol. Hinihintay din ako ng Harvard, dahil alumnus ako dun. Kaya lang ‘di ko kaya ang kapal ng mga pader nila. Ganundin sa Tel Aviv University, bukas sila na magturo ako, kaya lang, ang gulo,” he added.
(I also have regular workshops in Cuba every March, but the past couple years, I wasn’t able to come. There are so many works to be done here, besides finishing my film. I also have to tend to my farm. Harvard University is also waiting for me to give some talks because I am an alumnus but I can’t endure the thickness of their walls. Same with Tel Aviv University, they have an open invitation for me to give workshops but it’s not conducive at this time [due to the war.)
From 2016 to 2017, Diaz was recipient of the Radcliffe-Harvard Film Study Center Fellowship/David and Roberta Logie Fellow. His nearly year-long stay at Harvard enabled him to finish the libretto and music for a rock opera, the musical film “Season of the Devil,” which tackles lawlessness and extra-judicial killings under the rule of a deranged two-headed dictator. It has Kapamilya star Piolo Pascual in the lead.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic until 2023, Diaz has been conducting summer filmmaking workshops at Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. In 2021, when he shot “History of Ha” in Palawan, a few of his Cuban students were part of the crew, despite the pandemic restrictions.
Lucky attendees
So, for those aspiring young filmmakers based in Quezon and nearby provinces who will be accepted to attend the Sampaloc filmmaking workshop this June, they are among the luckiest. Film students from around the world who have long followed the works of Diaz would surely envy them.
The other lecturers are filmmakers Sheron Dayoc, Kevin Zarate Alambra and film critic Tito Valiente.
Dayoc, who is also producer and screenwriter, directed award-winning films like “Women of the Weeping River,” “The Gospel of the Beast,” “Bukod Kang Pinagpala” and “The Crescent Rising.”
Alambra, based on his IMDB profile, is “a filmmaker at ABS-CBN Studios, the leading content provider in the Philippines, known for his work in real-life storytelling across television and independent cinema.”
“’Warla,’ his feature directorial debut, is a socio-realist drama inspired by Manila’s first all-trans vigilante group. It was an official entry to the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival and had its international premiere at the 40th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival by the British Film Institute.
“He served as head researcher and director for ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya (Memories),’ the longest-running drama anthology in Asia. In 2019, he co-created ‘The Last Manilaners,’ an internationally acclaimed docuseries about Jewish Holocaust survivors in the Philippines, and directed the second season of ‘Zoomers,’ an OTT youth-oriented series recognized by the ContentAsia Awards 2024.”
Valiente is a film critic and educator who has been a long-time member of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, the group behind Gawad Urian.
For inquiries, follow the Sine Sampaloc Film Festival socials.
The town, known for its world-class buli products, recently had its 15h Bulihan Festival.