Filipino Musical Film Song of the Fireflies Is Having its World Premiere in Hollywood

Song of the Fireflies, a Filipino musical film directed by King Palisoc (Tandem) and written by Sarge Lacuesta (An Errand), will have its World Premiere on February 1, 2025 (10:50 a.m.), during the Manila International Film Festival in Los Angeles, California.

Starring Morissette, Krystal Brimner, Noel Comia Jr., and Rachel Alejandro, the musical film is a coming-of-age story about the world-famous Loboc Children's Choir that's based in Bohol. Morissette plays the role of a music teacher. It is produced by Culturtain Musicat Productions, which also brought us Ang Larawan in 2017.

If the title Song of the Fireflies sounds familiar, that's because the project started back in 2019, with a trailer released on January 1, 2020. After the curveball that was the pandemic, a super typhoon in the Visayas in 2021, and a crowdfunding campaign, it finally resumed its production in Bohol in 2023.

Krystal Brimner and Noel Comia Jr.

Morissette

Cinematography is by Pong Ignacio, who is known for Heneral Luna (2015), Goyo (2018), and Liway (2018). The musical direction and soundtrack are by Krina Cayabyab, with songs composed by National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab, Louie Ocampo, Raymond Marasigan, and Jazz Nicolas, and written by Sarge Lacuesta and Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta.

Song of the Fireflies joins the long roster of film screenings for the second edition of the Manila International Film Festival. Aside from showcasing the 10 films of the 50th Metro Manila Film Festival, there will also be special screenings of A Filipino in America, one of the earliest films about Filipinos in the U.S. and filmed in 1938; Faith Healers, which tackles immigration narratives of Filipino doctors in Washington, DC; the landmark film Genghis Khan, which was the first Filipino movie to screen in an international film festival when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1952; Hello, Love, Again, the first Filipino movie to break into the U.S. box office top 10; Love Hurts, directed by Fil-Am Jonathan Eusebio; feature documentary Nurse Unseen; and The Debut, hailed as the first Filipino American film to be shown nationwide in theaters in the U.S.

The Manila International Film Festival runs from January 30 to February 2, 2025, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.