Tonight, at 7 pm exground filmfest 31 will celebrate its opening with the dark thriller NEOMANILA by Mikhail Red from the Philippines that examines President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal anti-drug policies. Within the next 10 days the 21 short and feature-length films that make up this year’s Focus programme at exground filmfest provide a perfect opportunity to get to know the rich tradition of Filipino film culture and explore current strains of socio-political discourse in and about the country beyond the official narrative propagated by the increasingly authoritarian Philippine state.

After that the festival’s opening party celebrates big beats and rare grooves with DJ Monaco Bertrand and his B SIDE from 10pm at Kulturpalast.