Content overview: “‘Once Upon a Time in the Philippines’ at Busan APM: Journalist Massacre Drama Turns Bystan”. E del Mundo’s debut feature, ‘Once Upon a Time in the Philippines,’ is inspired by the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in which 58 people—including 32 journalists—were killed in the southern Philippines. The project, presented at the Asian Project Market during the Busan International Film Festival, follows a young woman who is drawn into the events leading up to the massacre. Over time, she slides from unwilling witness to accomplice, raising difficult questions about complicity and survival.
The Maguindanao massacre remains one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in history, and the film’s focus on a bystander’s moral descent offers a fresh perspective on a tragedy often framed in terms of victims and perpetrators. By centering a character who becomes entangled in violence, del Mundo explores how ordinary people can be transformed by extraordinary circumstances. For the complete material, the listing points back to the source inside the network.