Director:  Lav Diaz
Runtime: 302 minutes
Country: Philippines, USA
Language: Filipino, Tagalog, English with English subtitles
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language and Drug Use)

Screening courtesy of Austrian Film Museum

DEKADA AWARD (for Best Films of the 2000s)
Gawad Urian Awards (Filipino Film Critics Awards) 2011
BEST ASIAN FEATURE FILM
Singapore International Film Festival 2002
WINNER OF 10 AWARDS INCLUDING BEST PICTURE & BEST DIRECTION
Gawad Urian Awards 2002
NETPAC AWARD (Best Asian Feature Film) & BEST ACTOR
Cinemanila International Film Festival 2001

When the frozen corpse of Filipino-American teenager Hanzel is found on a sidewalk in New Jersey, Detective Juan Mijarez is tasked with investigating the cause of the boy’s death. Dealing with his own demons and violent past, Mijarez conducts a series of interviews with witnesses, friends, relatives and suspects, in order to learn what happened to the victim after his arrival in the United States. Casting its gaze across different generations and social classes within contemporary Filipino-American community, Lav Diaz’s Batang West Side lays bare the tensions at the heart of the Filipino immigrant experience.