A.ni.mál

A.ni.mál

by Dustin Celestino

120:00 minutes | Black Comedy, Social Satire | R-13 | Strong Language

CAST

Maxine Ignacio, Frances Makil-Ignacio, Jojit Lorenzo, Bituin Escalante, Reymund Domingo, Anthony Falcon

PRODUCTION

DIRECTOR – Dustin Celestino

SCREENPLAY – Dustin Celestino

EDITOR – John Rogers

CINEMATOGRAPHER – Kara Moreno

PRODUCTION DESIGNERS – Benjamin Padero, Carlo Tabije

ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE – Paulo Protacio; SOUND DESIGNER – Nicole Rosacay

ASSISTANT DIRECTION – Toni Go-Yadao, Joshua Tayco

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT – Mabel Quigue

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER – Marienel Calma

LINE PRODUCER – Mary Zapata

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – Roscelyn Domingo

PRODUCER – Janel Gutierrez Celestino

LOGLINE

In a provincial Philippine town, the daughter of the mayor comes home with a video of a powerful family friend abusing his dog.

SYNOPSIS

An average day takes an unexpected turn in a small, unnamed province in the Philippines when the mayor’s daughter, Lily, returns home with a compromising video of the governor. As the mayor scrambles to protect his longtime ally, tensions rise within his own household. The mayor is determined to shield the governor from scandal. His wife, Ofel, sees an opportunity to expose the truth to the governor’s wife. And their daughter, Lily, threatens to make the video public, unless the governor surrenders his beloved dog to her.

FILMMAKER’S PROFILE

DUSTIN CELESTINO

Dustin Celestino is a multi-awarded Filipino filmmaker, playwright, and educator whose work has been recognized across film, theater, and literature. His 2023 film Ang Duyan ng Magiting (The Cradle of the Brave) won the Special Jury Prize and Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Acting at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, was nominated for seven Gawad Urian Awards including Best Picture, and was one of seven films shortlisted as the Philippines’ official entry to the 96th Academy Awards.

His earlier film Utopia (2019), which he wrote and directed for the Cinema One Originals Film Festival, earned him nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay and received the Special Jury Award. From 2017 to 2025, Celestino won nine Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards (the Philippine equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) for his plays Ang Pangahas na si Pepe Rodriguez (The Malevolent Pepe Rodriguez), The Story of this Father, Ang Duyan ng Magiting (The Cradle of the Brave), The Lost Filipino Patriots of America, Fermata, Birdie, A.ni.mál, Elehiya (Elegy), and Fidelity.

He has also been recognized by the DLSU Annual Literary and Visual Arts Awards, receiving the Certificate of Excellence four times for his early literary works. A regular fixture at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Virgin Labfest, he has staged four notable plays over seven years: Mga Eksena sa Buhay ng Kontrabida (Scenes from the Life of an Antagonist), Doggy, Fermata, Ang Munting Liwanag sa Madilim na Sulok ng Isang Serbeserya sa Maynila (The Glimmer of Light in a Dark Corner of a Beerhouse in Manila) and Elehiya (Elegy).

Celestino is also a fellow of prestigious programs such as the Found Story School of Filmmaking, Ricky Lee Screenwriting Workshop, HOOQ Filmmakers’ Guild, and various national writers workshops including the Ateneo National Writers’ Workshop, IYAS La Salle National Writers’ Workshop, and the Silliman University National Writers Workshop.

His recent projects include Strange Frequences: Taiwan Killer Hospital, which competed at the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival, Habang Nilalamon ng Hydra ang Kasaysayan (As the Hydra Devours History), which competed at the 2025 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, and A.ni.mál, a finalist for the 2026 edition of Cinemalaya.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Evil is banal. It’s boring. It’s ordinary. There is nothing grand and romantic about it.

Many stories we’ve been fed have portrayed evil with a romanticized vision of formidable villainy that it becomes something almost mythical; its own form of greatness; something almost worthy of admiration and awe.

In our own country, there have been corruption scandals, impunity in the senate, and a growing culture of blatant evil. Some would glorify the people who commit these evils as borderline genius masterminds who have found a way to outsmart the system and master “the game.”

However, some of history’s worst atrocities weren’t enabled by profound strategy and exceptional cleverness. They were committed by perfectly mediocre people who just stopped asking questions, cowardly bent the knee to power, and turned a blind eye to the immorality of the person sitting next to them.

A.ni.mál is about that kind of evil.

Through this film, we seek to unmask the true nature of evil as petty, shallow, and pathetic; often an unfortunate side-effect of narcissism combined with idiocy.

We made this film to give the Filipino audience a glimpse beyond the curated image our pathetic officials carefully manufacture to deceive and control our people.

We want to remind the Filipino that these are not people we should look up to; regardless of how much wealth and power evil people hoard, they will always be just mediocre folk who float to the top because they’re unencumbered by the weight of basic human decency.