RADIKALS

RADIKALS
by Arvin Belarmino

20 MINUTES | Absurd Drama

CAST
Elora Españo, Timothy Castillo, Ross Pesigan

PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR/SCREENPLAY – Arvin Belarmino
SCREENPLAY – Kyla Danelle Romero
CINEMATOGRAPHER – Geia De Vera
PRODUCTION DESIGN – Adrian Española
EDITOR – Renard Torres
ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE – Horoscope Band, Sampaguita
SOUND DESIGN – Alex Tomboc, Lamberto Casas Jr.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS – Gi Sebastienne Giyan, Gonzales, Max Neace, Adnan Al Rajeev, Wesley Yap, Chad Vidanes, James Oliver Lau
PRODUCER/S – Kristine De Leon, Wesley Yap, Natividad De Leon
CO-PRODUCERS – Adnan Al Rajeev, Tanveer Hossain, Dominique Welinski

LOGLINE
A young rookie from a bizarre chicken-dance group faces a heckler after being the worst dancer at a performance — leading him to a series of strange events that reveal what the group does to their weakest link.

SYNOPSIS
Radikals follows a young, inexperienced dancer in an eccentric “Bakte” troupe whose disastrous performance draws the ire of a relentless heckler. What begins as a humiliating encounter spirals into a bizarre chain of events, revealing the troupe’s unsettling way of handling its weakest links.

FILMMAKER’S PROFILE

ARVIN BELARMINO is a Filipino filmmaker and an alumnus of Talents Tokyo, the Locarno Filmmakers Academy, Produire au Sud in Nantes, La Fabrique Cinéma, the Next Step Program by La Semaine de la Critique, and the Cinéfondation Résidence of the Festival de Cannes. At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Arvin presented two short films: Radikals, which competed in Critics’ Week, and Silig, featured at Directors’ Fortnight for the Directors’ Factory. He has directed several experimental and narrative short films, earning recognition both locally and internationally. His early work Kyel was a finalist at Cinemalaya 2015, followed by Nakaw in 2017, which won Best Short Film at the 40th Gawad Urian. In 2020, his short Tarang won Best Short Film at Interfilm Berlin in Germany. In 2023, his short Hinakdal won Best Screenplay, the NETPAC Award, and the Audience Choice Award at the Cinemalaya Short Film Competition. Most recently, in 2025, his film Agapito was selected for the Short Film Competition at the 78th Festival de Cannes.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

In the art industry, if you don’t do your best and pour your heart and soul into your craft, it will eat you alive. If you don’t find the courage to share your voice with the world, you will end up losing it — blending in with the ordinary people. We are here to express our experiences; we are here to immortalize our existence. We are here to do this for life. Life for artists is all about art. Share your voice, stand your ground, and have courage — and let the rest be chickens.