KANI013

Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara

Once a Moth

Philippines

1976

110
minutes

Synopsis

Nora Aunor stars, in what is often deemed her finest performance, as Corazon de la Cruz, a Filipina nurse. Living near the US Clark Air Base on Luzon Island, she dreams of a better life in the United States… until the unspeakable happens.

Directed by Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara, Once A Moth is a long-lost, rarely-seen landmark of Filipino cinema, here miraculously salvaged and restored despite weather-worn elements and a missing first reel. A timeless, galvanising, anti-imperialist classic conceived as a protest film against the unending occupation of the Philippines by foreign powers, it gives their wings back to those attracted and irrevocably burned by the flame of the American Dream.


★2K restoration by ABS-CBN
★Featurette on the restoration (9mins, 2023)
★ Before and After (1min, 2018)
★ Restoration Trailer
★ Optional English Subtitles

Booklet with
★ Archival Photographs courtesy of the Mowelfund Library and Audiovisual Archives,
★ New writing by scholars Jose B. Capino and John Labella,
★ Interview with Producer Digna Santiago,
★ Interview with Screenwriter Marina Feleo Gonzalez by critic Aaron Hunt
★ New art by Luigi Almuena

Contact

Inquiries: info@kani-releasing.com
Theatrical Bookings: theatrical@kani-releasing.com
Press: press@kani-releasing.com

Founded by Ariel Esteban Cayer & Pearl Chan
Theatrical Booking: Aaron Hunt
Logo Design: Leo Mak
Ident Theme: The Great Octopus
Distribution: OCN Distribution