Born in Mindanao, Philippines, in 1958, Lav Diaz primarily explores the nation’s social and political struggles. He has earned major accolades at leading film festivals, including the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival for From What Is Before (2014), the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Woman Who Left (2016), and the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival for A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (2016). His other directorial works include Melancholia (2008), Prologue to the Great Desaparecido (2013), When the Waves Are Gone (2022), Essential Truths of the Lake (2023), Phantosmia (2024), and Magellan (2025).
