Sheila Francisco, Bong Cabrera, Rocky Salumbides, Anthony Falcon
An innovative blend of pulpy action homages, playful comedy, and touching family drama, Martika Ramirez Escobar’s surreal, award-winning feature debut Leonor Will Never Die is an infectiously entertaining, wonderfully imaginative ode to the art of filmmaking.
Formerly a groundbreaking screenwriter in the Filipino film industry during its ragtag action cinema glory days, Leonor Reyes (Sheila Francisco) now struggles with old age, mounting bills, and personal losses. Revisiting an unfinished script about a protagonist avenging his brother’s murder, Leonor inadvertently collides with a television. Struck on the head and lying unconscious, fantasy and reality begin to blur. Waking up, Leonor finds transported inside her own script – now able to play out her wildest dreams, and finally the hero of her own story.
Weaving together scenes of social realism with Leonor’s more vibrantly photographed and action-packed imagination, Leonor Will Never Die is gleefully offbeat, but creates a weird kind of authenticity out of each increasingly surreal and experimental episode, buoyed by the warm, empathetic charisma of its protagonist. A Special Jury Prize-winner at Sundance, it’s at once a tribute to the Filipino action movies of yesteryear, a tender portrait of a compulsive artist, and a clever, creative study of the immortalising possibilities of cinema.
