How to Die Young in Manila (2020)

"How to Die Young in Manila" was made as a short pitch teaser to Petersen Vargas' full-length feature, entitled "Some Nights Feel Like Walking." It's about a young boy who braves the streets of nighttime Manila to meet an anonymous hookup. Thinking one of them is a hookup, he trails a pack of young hustlers who then draw him into their strange world of death and desire. This short film questions and explores the possibility of an urban life, of human connection in the city, for those not protected by privilege from the cruel policies of this government, which kill young men everywhere. It's a film that imagines and situates queer desire within a city determined and shaped by politics.