DEAD HUNGRY FOR LOVE

For Ian Pangilinan, stepping behind the camera means entering a world where fantasy, animation, and love take on new forms. Alongside director Carl Joseph Papa and co-star Khalil Ramos, he ventures into the unknown with Patay Gutom, a film that blurs the line between the living and the dead.

This September, Ian Pangilinan enters a new chapter of his creative life, taking on the role of actor-director in Patay Gutom, a fantasy BL film directed alongside Carl Joseph Papa. Bringing together live-action, animation, and mixed media, the project moves beyond familiar storytelling conventions, building a colorful world where reality and fantasy coexist, and where love might just reach beyond the boundaries of life itself.

For Ian, the film is an opportunity to experiment, not only with the form of the story but also with the themes it explores. “We’re gonna be experimenting with a lot of different forms and a lot of different themes,” he shares. That spirit of discovery extends to the film’s visual language, where the interplay of animation and live-action becomes an essential part of how its world is imagined and experienced.

A WORLD BETWEEN REALITY AND FANTASY

For director Carl Joseph Papa, whose work explores the possibilities of animation as a storytelling medium, the visual approach to Patay Gutom is central to its identity. “Visually, ang 'Patay Gutom' ay live-action, animation, and mixed media,” he explains. Rather than treating animation as a decorative layer, Papa sees it as a way to expand what cinema can express. “I see animation as a way to ‘give life,’ and I employ it to tell stories that deserve to be brought to life.”

That philosophy finds its place in a story that ventures into unfamiliar territory, where the supernatural meets the deeply human. The film's fantastical premise invites its characters and audiences to consider the boundaries between what can be seen and what can be felt. At its heart, Patay Gutom is not simply about the strange and the otherworldly, but about the many ways people experience connection, desire, and love.

Bringing that vision to life also meant stepping into a new creative process for its cast. Khalil Ramos and Ian Pangilinan, both widely recognized for their previous BL roles, reunite in a project that takes them beyond the familiar rhythms of the genre. This time, their characters inhabit a world that demands a different kind of performance, one shaped by the interaction between physical acting and animation.

THE WORK OF BECOMING

For Khalil, preparation began with getting to know the material and building a connection with the people who would bring it to life. “Getting to know your material and building a relationship with the cast, and seeing films they gave me to draw inspiration from,” he says, describing the process of finding his footing in a story that asks for a different approach to acting.

The technical demands of the production presented their own challenges. Working between live-action and animation required Khalil to understand how his performance would translate into an animated environment, and where the limitations of the medium might shape his choices. “I had to familiarize myself with the limitations of working technically as an animation,” he shares.

For an actor, that adjustment calls for more than simply learning a new set of techniques. It means reconsidering how movement, expression, and emotion can communicate when the final image is built through different visual forms. In Patay Gutom, the performance becomes part of a larger collaboration between actors, animators, and filmmakers, each contributing to a world that exists somewhere between imagination and reality.

LOVE IN ALL ITS FORMS

Beyond its supernatural premise and experimental visual approach, Patay Gutom is also a story about love in its many expressions. The film brings together family, queer love, and the connections that shape our lives, asking audiences to look beyond conventional ideas of romance and belonging.

“We’re so excited to show you a story about love and all its different forms, whether it’s family, gay love, all forms of love,” Ian says. It is a sentiment that gives the film a broader emotional dimension, grounding its fantastical elements in something universally recognizable.

The pairing of Khalil and Ian adds another layer of anticipation. Both actors have established a connection with audiences through their previous BL work, but Patay Gutom offers a new context for their on-screen chemistry. Here, the familiar language of romantic storytelling meets the unpredictable possibilities of fantasy, animation, and the supernatural.

What does it mean to fall in love when the person you love may not belong to the world of the living? And what happens when the things we fear become the very things we come to understand? These questions give the film its strange, compelling appeal, drawing viewers into a world where the impossible becomes an invitation to feel something real.

A STORY THAT DESERVES TO BE BROUGHT TO LIFE

With Patay Gutom, Ian Pangilinan, Carl Joseph Papa, and Khalil Ramos venture into a creative space that embraces experimentation while remaining rooted in human connection. Its combination of live-action, animation, and mixed media offers a distinctive visual language for a story that refuses to be confined to one genre or one definition of love.

As the film makes its way to the screen, its central question lingers: Is it scarier to be able to see ghosts, or to fall in love with one?

Patay Gutom (Dead Hungry) Now Showing in select cinemas as part of CPFF 2026.

Shoot Produced by Rizz PH

Photography: @rxn.je

Art Director: @kryssdenmar 

Managing Director: @allthebestvan 

Creative Lead: @joshdvr

Photo Team: @eulvay @pahimak4s

Interns: @vihnvangogh, @ferriswil and Marri

Ian wears Pankou Shirt from Syndrome Supply

Special thanks: Zara Jerisha Loayon, Cris Cao

Shot at @901studiosph