Bona

Bona (Nora Aunor), a middle-class girl from the Philippines, is obsessed with Gardo (Philip Salvador), a bit actor in low-budget films. When she decides to drop out of school to follow the object of her infatuation, her furious father casts her out and Bona moves in with the actor in the Manila slums. At first delighted to play house, the young woman soon finds herself not the wife, but rather the maid — at the mercy of Gardo’s every whim and desire, yet intent on enduring his unending parade of conquests, in the hopes of finally being seen.

Produced by its iconic superstar Nora Aunor as a subversion of her own fame at the time, and brought to life through Lino Brocka’s (Cain and Abel) trademark blend of high stakes melodrama and keenly observed social realism, Bona is a masterpiece of Filipino cinema. It unfolds as a troubling character study at the intersection of fandom, sexuality and martyrdom, in a country where fanaticism, both political, pop cultural and religious, remain driving societal forces. After premiering at the 1981 Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and long thought lost thereafter, Bona makes its triumphant return in a new 4K restoration.