From restored classics to award-winning contemporary films, this year’s Ortigas Art Festival is inviting audiences to revisit the richness of Philippine cinema through a series of free screenings.

Running from July 17 to 30 at Cinema 4, Promenade Greenhills, the program is presented in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Film, Broadcast and New Media Division. 

The lineup brings together works by National Artists alongside acclaimed titles from Cinemalaya and Gawad Alternatibo through the CCP Lakbay Sine Program.

Among the festival’s highlights is Lino Brocka’s Jaguar, the landmark social drama that became the first Filipino film to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. The film remains one of Philippine cinema’s defining commentaries on class inequality and exploitation.

The festival also screens JP Burgos’ Alipato at Muog, the acclaimed documentary chronicling his family’s search for justice following the disappearance of his brother, farmer-activist Jonas Burgos. Earlier this year, the film won Best Picture at the 73rd FAMAS Awards after overcoming an attempted ban by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

Joining the lineup are White Funeral, considered one of the country’s earliest dance films, and Cinemartyrs, which earned Sari Dalena the Best Director award at the 2025 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

Internationally recognized filmmakers are likewise represented through Brillante Mendoza’s Ma’ Rosa and Kidlat Tahimik’s Why Is Yellow the Middle of the Rainbow? Mendoza became the first Filipino filmmaker to win Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, while Tahimik is widely regarded as the father of Philippine independent cinema.

Rounding out the lineup are Lamberto Avellana’s A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino and Manuel Conde’s Genghis Khan—two landmark works from pioneers who helped shape Philippine cinema’s global reputation. Avellana was named the country’s first National Artist for Film, while Conde introduced Filipino filmmaking to international audiences through his acclaimed historical epic.

The festival will also screen Kono Basho by Jaime Pacena II, That We May See by Paul Alexander Morales, Ang Babae sa Likod ng Mambabatok by Lauren Sevilla Faustino, along with a selection of short films from emerging filmmakers under the CCP Lakbay Sine Program.

Now in its ninth year, the Ortigas Art Festival continues to champion its “Art for All” advocacy by making visual arts, music, and cinema more accessible to the public. Under this year’s theme, “ELEVATE,” the festival celebrates generations of Filipino filmmakers, offering audiences the rare opportunity to experience some of the country’s most influential films on the big screen—free of charge.