Experiencing Interruptions?

Manila Killah

On the run with stolen cash, a Western drifter hides out in Manila posing as a tourist, where he falls for an Indonesian school dropout eager to trade academia for a bohemian life —but as their passion deepens, so do the lies that could turn desire into betrayal.

  • Omar Beretta
    Director
  • Omar Beretta
    Writer
  • Omar Beretta
    Producer
  • Raditia Dwi Putra
    Key Cast
    "Rei"
  • Sawyer J Lahr
    Key Cast
    "Sawyer"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 18, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    1,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Thailand
  • Country of Filming:
    Philippines
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Krubb Gay Sauna
    Bangkok
    Thailand
    February 22, 2026
    Special Event
    Main Sauna Event
  • Casa Céspedes
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    March 21, 2026
    Main Collective Event
    Main Event
  • Festival MIX México - Cine, Diversidad Sexual y de Género
    Ciudad de México
    Mexico
    June 18, 2026
    World Premiere
    Official Selectiob
  • International Queer Film Festival Playa del Carmen
    Playa del Carmen
    Mexico
    November 19, 2026
    Playa del Carmen Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Omar Beretta

Omar Beretta (Argentina)

Director and screenwriter

"Playparty #6" shown at the Queergestreift Queer Film Festival in Konstanz, Germany, a festival organised by students for students that explores feminism, art, eroticism and pornography. 2026

"Manila Killah" world premiere at the Bangkok Krubb Gay Sauna to make diversity visible, and open up dialogue about desire, gender, and power. 2026

Dhaka DocLab, a pioneer platform for pitching and mentoring of documentary filmmakers. Observer, 2025

"Revenge" world premiere at the 26 BARS Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre Film Festival, 2024

Short film "Dead End" added to Otherness Archive, the visual archive documenting queer films and its pioneers, as well as a space for contemporary filmmakers, 2024

Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión de San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba - Taller Internacional cine autorreferencial, 2023

Audiovisual production, Cooperación Española Cultura + Desarrollo, 2022

Lawyer, LGBT activist

Producer and host of the podcast #Putoelquelee since 2019 (https://spoti.fi/44mE9I2)

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film continues my interest in the relationship between desire, power, and performance. I am particularly drawn to stories of double-crossing: moments when intimacy and manipulation occupy the same space, when love and strategy become indistinguishable. The thriller has long used betrayal as its engine, but I am interested in how this dynamic unfolds within queer relationships, where vulnerability and risk often carry different social and political meanings.

The presence of explicit queer sex in my work is not intended as provocation for its own sake, but as a political and aesthetic choice. Queer bodies have historically been erased, sanitized, or reduced to subtext in cinema. To show desire openly—without apology, without euphemism—is to reclaim space and authorship over our own images. In this sense, explicitness becomes a way of resisting invisibility, insisting that queer intimacy is not peripheral but central, not symbolic but real.