(2024, Philippines, 245')
Hilarion Zabala is plagued by a mysterious olfactory problem that reoccurs regularly. The psychiatrist who examines him suspects it might be phantosmia, a rather rare condition that causes olfactory hallucinations. The radical therapy proposed to Hilarion will force him to confront the darkest shadows of his past in the military, while in the remote penal colony of Pulo, where he has been reassigned, he is also compelled to face the harsh reality of the present.
Filipino director, actor, producer, and editor Lav Diaz returns to Venice for the sixth time, his most recent appearance being in 2022 with When the Waves Are Gone, presented Out of Competition. A distinguished figure in slow cinema, he has rarely left a festival empty-handed. In 2008, Melancholia won the Orizzonti section, while Lahi, Hayop (2020) earned him the Best Director award. In 2014, he received the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival for From What Is Before, and in 2016, he won the Golden Lion with The Woman Who Left. His work has also been recognized at the Cannes Film Festival (Norte, the End of History, 2013) and the Berlinale (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, 2016).
