Leonor Will Never Die will make its local premiere as the opening film of the 2022 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival on August 5, 2022, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This is the first time in two years for the festival to run a live on-site screening alongside a virtual one.

After winning the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and traveling the world through various international film festivals in Norway, San Francisco, Switzerland, and Taipei among many others—this critically acclaimed film comes home in this year’s Cinemalaya. According to the team, this is truly a homecoming moment because Leonor Will Never Die was originally a Cinemalaya film.

Writer-director Martika Ramirez Escobar’s debut in Cinemalaya was with her undergraduate thesis film Pusong Bato which won the Best Short Film in 2015. Arkeofilms has also produced award-winning films that competed in the independent film festival such as Big Time (2005), Baby Angelo (2008), and Respeto (2017).