After refusing a ritual circumcision intended to usher him into manhood, Rene-boy (10), tries alternate methods to remove this mark of cowardice.
Acting
Andrei Fajarito's devastating child performance.
Direction
Giordano packs a feature's worth of dread into 13 minutes.
Writing
Economical, culturally specific, brutally efficient.
Director
Phil Giordano
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Circumcision (tuli) remains a rite of passage in the Philippines, with 'supot' (uncircumcised) used as a slur equating foreskin with cowardice.
Giordano based the film on classmates who performed DIY circumcisions with razor blades and guava leaves — a tragically common reality.
PH
