Jay is the name of the two protagonists in the film, one is living, the other dead. The living Jay is producing a documentary of the dead Jay, a gay teacher who was brutally killed. As Jay recreates and examines the life of his subject, his own life is affected when he unravels his subject's hidden life and secret love.
Acting
Baron Geisler's unsettling duality as filmmaker and subject.
Direction
Pasion blurs documentary and drama until you can't trust either.
Writing
The script weaponizes your assumptions about BL tropes.
Director
Francis Xavier Pasion
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made in 2008, this predates the global BL boom and critiques the very genre it technically inhabits—the Philippines had a complex underground queer cinema scene rarely exported.
The two Jays share a name but the film never visually distinguishes them in credits—Pasion forces you to question which Jay you're watching at any moment, especially in the recreated documentary footage.
PH
