Director

Liryc Dela Cruz is an artist and filmmaker from Tupi, South Cotabato, in Mindanao, Philippines, and Rome, Italy. His works have been performed and showcased at numerous international film festivals and contemporary art venues, including the Locarno Film Festival, Matadero (Madrid), La Neomudéjar (Madrid), Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), UK New Artist, Artissima (Turin), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin), Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Roma (MACRO), Teatro di Roma (Rome), Santarcangelo Festival (Rimini), Far East Film Festival (Udine), PACT Zollverein (Germany), Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival (Taiwan), La Biennale di Venezia, and Ocean Space (Venice).

At a young age, Dela Cruz received the Bamboo Camera Award from the father of Philippine independent cinema, Kidlat Tahimik. In 2020, he was selected as one of the young emerging filmmakers of Berlinale Talents, representing Italy at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.

Dela Cruz's films explore themes related to his origins, history, biography, and interiority, while his performances and research focus on care, hospitality, indigenous practices, decolonial approaches, post-colonial Philippines, and the transpacific trade of enslaved people.

In 2023, he inaugurated his first major exhibition, IL Mio Filippino: For Those Who Care To See, at Mattatoio di Roma, presenting the trajectory of his multi-year research on exhaustion, slavery, care, hospitality, and the colonial history of the Philippines.

In 2024, Dela Cruz was nominated by Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum as their artist for the Artica Residency. In 2025, he has been selected by Art Explora and Cité Internationale des Arts to develop his new work in Paris.