Take a first look at award-winning director Sheron Dayoc’ 's new film The Gospel of the Beast.
The feature film is Sheron Dayoc’s comeback film after six years, his last feature being Women of the Weeping River (2016) which won the best film at 2017 Toronto Reel Asia and Best Director at the 2017 Asian Film Festival Barcelona. Locally, it was awarded Best film at the Gawad Urian, Qcinema, and Young Critics Circle. The film was also hailed by the Philippines’ National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) as one of the twelve iconic films of the decade.
The Gospel of the Beast follows the story of a 15-year-old Mateo who accidentally kills a classmate, he runs away with a man he barely knows, Berto, with whom he created a unique father-son relationship - where Mateo learns the harrowing realities about life, death, and BEASTHOOD. Dayoc, like in his previous films, tackles the relationship between violence and humanity but this time, with the added layer of innocence lost.
However, it is not only Dayoc who is making a return. The film is also the big screen comeback of Jansen Magpusao, Cinemalaya and Film Academy of the Philippines awardee for Best Actor. It is his first role since his debut film John Denver Trending. He stars alongside veteran award-winning actor Ronnie Lazaro. Both actors hail from Western Visayas with Magpusao being a native of Pandan, Antique and Lazaro coming from Sagay, Negros Occidental.
The entirety of the film was shot in Western Visayas as well, specifically in Iloilo and Antique.
The Gospel of the Beast is a recipient of the Film Development Council of the Philippines’ International Co-Production Fund, was developed in Full Circle Lab Philippines, and was also part of the Asian Project Market and ScreentellingLab.