When filmmaker Rodina Singh announced that her film ‘Dreamboi’ received an X-rating from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), she didn’t post a rant; instead, she wrote a love letter to cinema, to her community, and to the messy truth of following the double standard of the Filipino film industry.
‘Dreamboi is not pornography; it is a story about being seen,’ she said in her statement. ‘We believe that visibility is not obscenity, that desire is not a sin, and that stories like ours belong in the cinema.’
‘Dreamboi’ is a CineSilip entry under the Vivamax Film Festival, the same platform known for its erotic and adult-oriented titles. This is the same stage that regularly releases films filled with heterosexual intercourse and fantasy, most of which pass with R-16 or R-18 ratings. But when a trans woman’s sexual imagination takes center stage, the system suddenly decides it’s ‘inappropriate for public viewing.’
So while the board praised ‘Dreamboi’ as a ‘mature, artistically driven exploration of sexuality, identity, and desire,’ they still silenced the film.
The dream to be seen
Written and directed by Singh, ‘Dreamboi’ tells the story of Diwa, a trans woman who becomes entranced by the voice of an underground audio porn star. Torn between fantasy and reality, she drifts through the neon haze of Quezon City on a journey of desire, pain, and self-discovery.
It’s not the kind of film made for comfort. It’s meant to make you ask yourself what it means to long for something and what happens when the world tells you that you longing for something out of the norm should not exist.
‘Desire, especially for trans women, is often messy, fractured, and shameful,’ Singh wrote. ‘But it is also ours.’
That single line captures what makes ‘Dreamboi’ more than a film. It’s a sense of belonging. But dreaming of a sense of belonging is not enough to break MTRCB’s ruling.
Because when you look at the way the MTRCB has treated films that show queer sexuality versus those that center cishet male desire, the double standard becomes obvious.
A usual straight intercourse is considered romantic, but for a trans woman, it is ‘obscene.’
Visibility is not obscenity
Following the MTRCB’s ruling, student filmmakers and directors flooded social media in support of ‘Dreamboi.’ The UP Cinema released a strong statement condemning the censorship.
‘Tinatatakan ng X-Rating ang mga queer na katawan bilang malaswa-mga katawan na hindi dapat makita ng publiko. Sa pagdidikta kung aling mga anyo ng pagnanasa ang ‘katanggap-tanggap,’ ipinapakita lamang ng MTRCB na hanggang ngayon, binubura pa rin ng mga institusyon ang mga karanasang hindi nila kayang unawain.’
Director Antoinette Jadaone also shared her support on social media, describing ‘Dreamboi’ as a film that’s ‘moving, messy, and beautiful,’ adding that while the MTRCB called the film explicit, it was actually a thought on ‘longing, intimacy, and what it means to be seen.’
A change of heart
But after two heartbreaking rejections from the board, Singh’s ‘Dreamboi’ is finally making it to the big screen after MTRCB’s change of heart.
On Tuesday, the board gave ‘Dreamboi’ an R-18 rating, allowing it to screen publicly, just in time for the CineSilip Festival on Oct. 22. This decision marks the end of the film’s uphill battle for visibility and a beginning for trans filmmakers and queer storytelling in local cinema
Living the dream
In the glow of ‘Dreamboi’s’ world, cinema becomes more than just a screen; it’s a sanctuary. A space where trans women, so often erased or misrepresented, finally get to breathe, to want, to exist without apology.
It’s more than a request for a rating change. It’s a demand for equality in storytelling and the right to exist in full color, not as an afterthought or an exception.