The trailer for Lav Diaz's “Phantosmia” has been released, which is having its world premiere in the Out of Competition section of the Venice Film Festival.
The film revolves around Hilarion Zabala, who suffers from a mysterious problem with his sense of smell, which a counselor/psychiatrist suspects is caused by a chronic case of phantom smell, possibly caused by deep psychological trauma. One of the radical operations recommended to cure this condition is for Hilarion to go back and deal with the darker currents of his past life during military service. After being reassigned to the extremely remote Pulo penal colony, he must also confront the horrific realities of his current situation.
In a statement, the director asked: “Does a human being have the right to kill another human being? A large part of the story of “Phantosmia” revolves around this discourse, and other questions about human existence.”
“One of the main protagonists of the film is a retired military officer,” he adds. “He spent his entire life in military and police service, and most of those experiences were fraught with violence and institutional punishment.
“Even his upbringing was fraught with violence, because of his father’s view of dealing with life’s challenges – that a person should be strong, mentally and physically. He remembers waking up every morning and the first words he heard were “You are a fighter!” and “You are a warrior!”; and the first trainings were on how to use a gun and how to fight. Thus, he became a real fighter and warrior, by his own estimation, but he was very violent, and he believed then that violence was part of his duty, a natural feature of military and police institutions.
“These types of adaptations have led to the emergence of fascist, authoritarian, feudal and profoundly barbaric regimes.”
The cast consists of Ronnie Lazaro, Janine Gutierrez, Paul Jake Paul, and Hazel Orencio.
Diaz serves as director, writer, cinematographer, editor and producer.
Diaz's previous films include “From What Is Before,” which won Best Film at Locarno in 2014, “The Woman Who Left,” which won Best Film at Venice in 2016, and “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery,” which won the Alfred Bauer Prize in Berlin in 2016.
