‘Silkscreen’ bags Best Short Film at Cinemalaya 2026

Rey Anthony Villaverde’s short film “Silkscreen” stands as a powerful testament to the dignity of manual craft and the delicate threads of familial legacy in an era dominated by rapid digital automation and algorithms.

The Dipolog/Dumaguete drama earned the coveted Best Short Film award at the 22nd Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, making Villaverde’s second appearance on the festival’s stage a victorious one following his 2024 metacinema comedy “Ambot Wa Ko Kabalo Unsay I-Title Ani.”

Starring Justine Lawrence Lopez along with Nonoy Barbaso and Mariel Barbaso, “Silkscreen” follows Roy, a young printer racing against time to keep his family’s worn-down shop afloat amid a mountain of orders. As he struggles to keep the business alive, he is forced to confront the quiet distance between himself and his aging father, the shop’s original owner.

The Cinemalaya jury praised the short film for “its textured cinematography, precise color grading, and meticulous sound design: for brilliantly capturing the tangible, tactile world of a fading craft; for its emotionally resonant story of legacy and reconciliation, beautifully balancing the silent tension and tender affection between a struggling son and his aging father as they navigate time, family, and changing times.”

For Villaverde, a Zamboanga del Norte native and Silliman University political science major, the story is rooted deeply in personal experience, “I grew up surrounded by our family’s printing business, which became the backdrop of my childhood and shaped who I am today. The smell of ink, the noise of machines, and T-shirts coming out fresh and wet with color were part of everyday life. It taught me early on that hard work leaves a mark, and so does legacy.”

“But beyond a personal story, this film is also about a disappearing world. In a time when everything is becoming fast, digital, and automated through technology and algorithms, manual crafts are slowly being pushed aside. Traditional arts, the kind built on patience, skill, and sweat, are being replaced or forgotten,” the filmmaker added.

Villaverde, who directed, wrote, edited, and co-produced the film, got ample support from cinematographer El-El Barinaga, production designer Filamie Sami, musical scorer Emmauel Jaboneta, sound designers Nowell Teves, Anthony Silva, and Angelito Linogo, colorist Joe Nico Ebora, executive producer Rey S. Villaverde, co-producer Catherine T. Villaverde, co-producers Cham Guevarra and Derek Pulliam, assistant director Mariel Barbaso, and creative producer and script consultant Zig Dulay.

Aside from “Silkscreen,” the other winners at the Cinemalaya 22 Short Film Category were “Para-paraan” by Mae Chan Li, Special Jury Prize; “The River Flows in Different Places” by Lot-Lot Hermosura, NETPAC Award; “Hoy, Hoy, Ingat!” by Norvin delos Santos, Audience Choice Award; Gabriela Serrano, Best Director for “Elenita, Elena, Elaine”; and Lysa Catolico and Jazmine Gin R. Pateña, Best Screenplay for “RUNO!”