This animated documentary tells the story of photojournalist Reynaldo ‘Bebot’ Momay, who was left off the list of victims of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in which 58 people, including 32 journalists, were killed in the southern Philippines. Because his body was never found, he was not legally recognized as a victim. The film follows Bebot’s daughter in her long fight to have her father recognized as the 58th victim. The director reenacts interviews with Bebot’s daughter and his research, turns them into rotoscoped animation, and places them alongside actual news archive. Here, animation becomes a way to reconstruct the life of a man and a tragic incident that were left out of the record. Yet, boldly moving between fact and supposition, memory and imagination, the film also raises questions about records and the ethics of reenactment. A much-discussed film, 58th was screened at Rotterdam and Annecy.
A Filipino software engineer, animation director, and live-action filmmaker. Beginning with his feature debut, Unforgetting (2014), his films employing rotoscoping and digital animation, including Manang Biring (2015) and Love Bites (2018), have screened at numerous film festivals, including Annecy and Rotterdam. The Missing (2023) became the first Filipino animated film to be submitted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
