Essential Truths of the Lake finds Lav Diaz revisiting moments that are undoubtedly familiar. It’s a story that has been previously presented in more striking fashion, but its present iteration is still an adventure worth diving into.

Lav Diaz’s return to film sees one of his grimiest, darkest creations in When The Waves Are Gone, an absurdist presentation of the decay of man and masculinity early in the Duterte regime.

This year’s Asian Shorts film program for QCinema features a diverse selection of socially relevant films from filmmakers from China, Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In their own ways they each deal with issues that afflict their local communities and continue to exemplify the unbridled power of cinema as a tool for reflection on the state of human society today.