I Like the Film Lanaya by Clyde Capistrano

Ni Oggie Medina

The scene starts with the mysterious murder of an alleged drug addict in a rural town. Then the moviegoer is right away introduced to the police detective Jerry, played by Jun Nayra.

Later, the scene panned into Kaloy, a financially struggling nursing student, played by Shaun Salvador.

Later the police detective recruited the struggling nursing student to work as a caregiver in the mansion of Aurora (played by Madeleine Nicolas), an enigmatic widow of a former president. The detective suspects Aurora of murdering her husband and tasks Kaloy with spying on her to gather evidence. As Kaloy gets closer to Aurora, he becomes caught in a dangerous web of secrets and psychological games.

The film Lanaya is a Filipino crime drama and psychological thriller that marks the full-length directorial debut of filmmaker Clyde Capistrano. The film explores themes of power, moral ambiguity, and unresolved grief.

Filmmaker Capistrano, originally from San Pablo City, Laguna, drew from a traumatic childhood memory of witnessing a neighborhood stabbing to craft the film’s unsettling tone.

The film Lanaya gained international acclaim, winning Best International Feature Film and Best Music Score at the 2025 Saskatchewan International Film Festival in Canada. It was a featured entry in the 8th Sinag Maynila Independent Film Festival in March 2026.

Interestingly, the project was developed through a mentor-mentee collaboration with filmmaker Napoleon Jamir II.

Others in the Lanaya cast are Rolando Inocencio (who portrays Garret, a gardener), Gigi Hernandez, Marlon Mance, Aljun Fajardo, Rhett Romero, Allan Yu, and Clyde Crosz.

Honestly, I like the Lanaya film, especially the ending of the story which relieves my emotion and resolves the conflict in a simple, understandable and clear manner.