Filipino drama 'Silenced Nights' will open the 21st Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival

The 21st Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival will open with 'Silenced Nights', a Filipino drama directed by Lawrence Fajardo, according to Variety. The festival runs from 28 November to 5 December in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The festival will close with 'You Are the Film', a Japanese comedy-drama from Makoto Ueda. Between those two nights, the programme will screen 254 films from 34 countries. This year's theme is 'Influx'.

Ten features will compete for the Golden and Silver Hanoman Awards in the main competition. Those awards are the festival's competitive prizes, and the ten titles will be shown across the week.

'Silenced Nights' is a Tagalog-language drama, produced in the Philippines in 2026. The film runs 111 minutes. The festival's programme describes it as set in the narrow alleys of urban Manila during a brutal drug war. It is scheduled to screen at 20:30 on Saturday, 28 November, the same night as its Indonesian premiere.

The film also has a history on the international circuit. A post from its Philippine producer, Quantum Films, says it had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and that it is the first Filipino film to open the Jogja-NETPAC festival.

For a festival like this one, the opening slot is one of the first public choices of the year. Programmers pick the opener and the closer months ahead, and both films are then shown to audiences who may have seen neither at a festival before. Festival slots of this kind are also where sales agents and buyers look for films that could reach other cinemas and streaming services later.

The full programme, with ticket and venue details, is on the festival's website.