This unique narrative incorporating documentary elements follows Rey, a 40-year-old non-binary teacher and typhoon survivor, on a roadtrip to fame. With surreal comedy and social portrait realism, filmmaker Seán‌ Devlin explores climate change, LGBTQ+ issues, and the impact of colonialism on contemporary Philippines.

A wildly inventive blend of comedy, climate activism, and community collaboration, Asog is a genre-defying cinematic sojourn from Filipino-Canadian multihyphenate Seán‌ Devlin 叶世民. Teaming with survivors of one of the most devastating typhoons to ever hit the Philippines, Devlin has crafted a vibrantly queer road movie like no other. It stars the luminous, irreverent Jaya, a non-binary television comedian bound for a beauty pageant, hoping that the prize money can help them rebuild following the deadly storm. Jaya is joined on their journey by Arnel, a wide-eyed young man hoping to reconnect with family members scattered in the typhoon’s wake. Travelling together cross-country, the duo encounters an array of fellow survivors also contending with the storm’s impacts, including an attempted land-grab by opportunistic developers. Enmeshing its docu-fictional narrative with the real-life struggles of displaced residents, the Asog team calls the film a “cinematic intervention.” The Tribeca Festival, meanwhile, has hailed it as “a monument of trans cinema.” However you label it, Asog is a singular creation, and a bold embodiment of the kind of solidarity that the climate emergency demands of us all. – PLANET IN FOCUS

Preceded By TO BE A GOOD HOME by Evan Flom

To Be A Good Home follows three women farming and stewarding the land in northern Minnesota. One is a direct descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, tending her plot at the place of the gardens, Gitigaaning. One is an urban farmer, feeding her neighborhood near the shores of Lake Superior, Gichigami. One is a regenerative farmer and rancher, caring for her herd and building the soil with them. – PLANET IN FOCUS