We acknowledge Australia’s First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land, and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country SFF are based.
We honour the storytelling and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.

Essential Truths Of The Lake

Directed by Lav Diaz
2023
Philippines
213 minutes
Unclassified 18+
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Filipino master Lav Diaz takes on the police procedural, exploring the injustices of his country’s recent political history with hypnotic, provocative results.

A detective takes on a cold case, the murder of a young woman 15 years earlier. Recalling Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder, the investigation becomes as much about the broader sociopolitical landscape as an inquiry into individual culpability. Filipino superstar John Lloyd Cruz reprises his role as Lt. Hermes Papauran from Diaz’s previous When the Waves Are Gone (SFF 2023), this time investigating a different crime. The director’s trademarks are all here: starkly transfixing black-and-white compositions, startling novelistic digressions (including a film-within-a-film faux-documentary introducing the missing woman), and an atmosphere that bristles with bracing dissident anger. As with the filmmaker’s best work, it’s equally meditative and urgent.

Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking.
A fiery noir-inflected takedown of the culture of criminal impunity shaping contemporary Philippine society
Clarence Tsui, The Film Verdict<>/em

Tickets

Sun 9 Jun
6pm
Palace Central Cinemas - Cinema 1
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Subtitled
Past Event Cancel
Tue 11 Jun
6pm
Dendy Newtown - Cinema 2
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Subtitled
Past Event Cancel
Program Strand
Features
Year
2023
Classification
Unclassified 18+
Country
Philippines, France, Portugal, Singapore, Italy, Switzerland, UK
Language
In Tagalog and English with English subtitles
Director
Lav Diaz
Producer
Marta Alves, Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew, Joaquim Sapinho, Jean-Christophe Simon
Cast
John Lloyd Cruz, Bart Guingona, Hazel Orencio
Screenwriter
Lav Diaz
Cinematographer
Lav Diaz, Larry Manda
Editor
Lav Diaz
Premiere
Australian Premiere
Genre
Crime, Cinephile, South East Asia
Company Credits
Sales Agent: Films Boutique
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