“BENEATH THE BADGE” ADVANCES TO SEMI-FINAL ROUND AT BRUSSELS WORLD FILM FESTIVAL Mindanao-produced documentary adds another international milestone to a growing record of awards, finalist recognition and festival selections…

By Rommel Gonzales

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — September 19, 2026 — Philippine documentary “Beneath the Badge” (Sa Likod ng Tsapa), written, directed and produced by veteran Mindanao journalist and filmmaker Editha Z. Caduaya, has advanced to the Semi-Finalist stage of the Brussels World Film Festival for September 2026, placing the film in the festival’s first round of jury review.

The Brussels World Film Festival informed Caduaya that Beneath the Badge is a Semi-Finalist project for September 2026 and has entered the festival’s first round, where judges will privately review the film. The festival said no additional materials are required from the filmmaker at this stage. According to the notification sent to Caduaya, projects that advance to the second round will receive an award for the month’s festival and will be considered for the festival’s online event.
The festival said a general announcement of results will be sent by October 10, 2026. Caduaya was also authorized to publicly share the Semi-Finalist recognition through the festival’s generic laurel.

The Brussels recognition adds another chapter to the growing international journey of Beneath the Badge, a documentary that began as a journalistic exploration of the life, struggles, controversies, sacrifices and search for redemption of Philippine police officer Hansel Marantan.
Rather than presenting a conventional biography, the film looks at the human being behind the uniform and examines the tensions between duty, authority, public judgment, personal consequence and the possibility of rebuilding a life after controversy.
“Beneath the Badge” attempts to look beyond the uniform and the public headlines to examine the human dimensions of service, danger, controversy, imprisonment, sacrifice, public judgment and redemption. In doing so, the film also carries a distinct Mindanao perspective into the international documentary circuit, where stories produced outside the country’s traditional film centers are increasingly finding their own audiences.