Filipino actor and filmmaker Epy Quizon will land in Dubai this month carrying a short film that has already collected more than a hundred international laurels. His work Bukal (Wellspring) heads into the Emirates Film Festival 2026 with multiple nominations, and Quizon plans to attend the festival screening on July 25, 2026, before the Awards Night the following evening.
Set in the conflict-scarred highlands of Mindanao, Bukal turns on a confrontation between a Philippine Army platoon and a Muslim rebel unit fighting for control of a lone natural spring. As thirst and grief wear down both camps, the fighters are pushed toward a difficult reckoning over whether survival depends on winning the war or on choosing humanity over ideology. Quizon wrote, directed, and produced the film, which he frames as a study of reconciliation rather than a glorification of combat.
“BUKAL reminds us that before we become soldiers, rebels, Christians, Muslims, or citizens of different nations, we are first human beings.”
The festival run has been unusually decorated. Bukal has taken roughly 80 percent of its nominations, earning recognition in categories that span Best Short Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing, along with Best Sound Design, Best Production Design, Best Makeup, Best Actor, and Best Ensemble Cast. That tally places it among the most awarded Filipino short films of its generation.
The cast brings together Alvin Anson, Ronnie Quizon, Christian Vasquez, Vance Larena, Rez Cortez, and a wider ensemble of Filipino performers. Production credits go to EPYQ Films, TBA Film Productions, and the Mercy Islamic Foundation.
Quizon, the son of the late Comedy King Dolphy, is arriving in the Emirates with plans beyond the red carpet. He is a partner in Fliquey, a social platform in beta testing that aims to connect creators, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs, and whose founding group includes Sam Cu, Meriette Palaruan, Martha Grace Licyayo, Director Gorio Vicuña, and Peejay Vicuña. The team hopes to introduce the platform to the UAE market.
He also intends to mark the nominations alongside Banayad Whisky, the Scotch tied to his family since Dolphy featured it in the 1995 comedy Father en Son and now sold in the UAE, with any celebration held in line with local rules on alcohol.
Encouraged by the short film’s reception, Quizon is now developing Bukal into a full-length feature and is courting international co-producers, strategic partners, and investors. The adaptation is meant to widen the story’s emotional and geopolitical reach while holding to its central argument that compassion can outlast division, a message its makers believe carries added weight at a moment when conflict continues across parts of the Middle East and beyond.
