Kanibal, a 16-minute Hiligaynon short by Michael A. Baylon, uses body horror and market detail to comment on the redevelopment of an Iloilo City public market. It’s Baylon’s directorial debut and one of 20 shorts picked for the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival 2026.
Kanibal is a 16-minute, 52-second Hiligaynon short written and directed by Michael A. Baylon, a Communication and Media Studies student at UP Visayas.
The film stages body horror inside an Iloilo public market to comment on redevelopment and local politics, ending with the meat vendor and meat becoming visually indistinguishable.
# What Kanibal is and who made it Kanibal is a 16-minute and 52-second short film written and directed by Michael A. Baylon, a Communication and Media Studies student at the University of the Philippines Visayas. It's his debut as a director. The film is in Hiligaynon and frames its story inside an Iloilo City public market.
# Premise and tone The plot follows Lea, a meat vendor played by Rowen Jean Ledesma, who works her stall with her daughter Anne (Lia Sophia Sajonia) nearby. The market hums with ordinary commerce. The presence of local politics is ordinary, too: Lea wears a campaign shirt with the smiling face of the mayor she voted for. When news arrives that Mayor Lin (Roselle Lao) will visit, Lea prepares a cut of meat as a gift. A neighbor, Anecita (Ma. Lourdes Maculada), brings the news and sets events in motion.
# How the film uses market detail to make a point Kanibal keeps its premise small on the surface—a vendor preparing for a mayoral visit—while making specific, quiet choices that link personal, religious, and political markers to the economic life of the market. The film places local symbols (campaign shirts, prayer cards) in the frame alongside raw meat and daily labor. Those juxtapositions construct a commentary around redevelopment and how political cycles intersect with market life.
# Casting and creative notes
# Festival placement and screenings
# Why the film matters for viewers Kanibal offers a concise, image-driven way to think about redevelopment, local politics, and the everyday labor of market vendors. Its use of body horror is not shock for shock's sake but a framing device that asks viewers to watch how political gestures and market economies overlap in intimate, sometimes disturbing ways.
# Where to watch The film's immediate public screenings are tied to the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival dates and venues listed above. Outside the festival, distribution details are not provided in the source material.
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