Synopsis

Staff

Producer Avid LIONGOREN

Scenario Carlo VERGARA

Storyboard Jether AMAR

Character Design Joshua PANELO

BG Design Geri CRUZ

Lay Out/Animation/Camera/Effect Rocketsheep

Sound WAPAK Sound Studios

Music Len Calvo

Voice Phi PALMOS

Editing Jaye JACINTO

*Korean subtitles provided by Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN)

Program Note

Director Avid Liongoren's [Zsazsa Zaturnnah] summons an icon of Filipino popular culture onto the screen, heralding the birth of a queer hero. Based on Carlo Vergara's cult graphic novel, the film begins when Ada — a shy gay hairdresser in a small town — swallows a mysterious stone and transforms into the superheroine "Zsazsa Zaturnnah."

Ada's transformation is far more than a narrative device borrowed from the superhero genre. As a gay man acquires the body of an idealized female hero, the boundaries of gender are gleefully dismantled, and an extraordinary journey toward one's true self unfolds. Liongoren boldly draws on the distinctly Filipino sensibility of camp and the grammar of B-grade comics, achieving both visual pleasure and narrative depth in equal measure.

Even amid the exuberant showdown against the alien Amazonistas, a sincere message of minority love and self-affirmation runs beneath the exaggerated laughter. Ultimately, where the film arrives is at the hard-won struggle to hold one's own universe firmly intact against the gaze and prejudice of others. Having won the National Book Award, and having journeyed through musical and live-action adaptations before finally being realized as animation, [Zsazsa Zaturnnah] stands as the most jubilant anthem of pride for Filipino queer culture today.

Jinny Hyejin CHOO