Directors – Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado – 2026 – US – Cert. PG tbc – 98m
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Two young, Filipino women, best friends since childhood, are transported back to the mythical land of the ancestors of one of them – plays in the Annecy International Animation Festival 2026 which runs from Sunday, 21st June to Saturday 27th June, and is out in cinemas worldwide on Friday, October 16th
The Philippines. (You’re supposed to know this is the location, but if the film explained it anywhere, apart from stating the setting is outside the US, I missed it.) New girl in class Jo (voice: H.E.R.) is doing a show and tell about the island of Natali, which her grandmother claims to have visited as a child, complete with terrifying descriptions of the Manananggal, the bat-winged demon which can split in two – lower half and upper half.
The teacher sends her to the principal for presenting falsehoods as real. Jo is soon joined by the more intellectual Raissa (voice: Lisa Soberano) who stands up for Jo after Jo has been sent out of the classroom. They bond outside the principal’s office, vowing to be best friends and to find the island of Natali together.… Read the rest