A co-production of Anima, Project 8 Projects, Cloudy Duck Pictures, and Happy Infinite Productions, the film was first premiered on September 13, 2024 at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival,[2][3] and had a European premiere at the 75th Berlinale as part of the Generation 14plus section on 18 February 2025.[4] The film was released to the general public on July 23, 2025.
Plot
Nineteen-year old Sunshine tries out for the national gymnastics team for a final opportunity to compete in the Olympics. She lives with her older sister Geleen, a former gymnast who became a single mother to an infant daughter, Gracie, and her younger brother, Rod. During practice, Sunshine's coach, Eden, notices her gaining weight before the latter faints. Upon waking up, another coach asks Sunshine when she last menstruated, but she is unable to recall. Realizing that something is wrong, Sunshine leaves and takes a pregnancy test, which yields a positive result. Fearing the end of her athletic career, Sunshine conceals this information and seeks out illegal abortifacients in Quiapo, only to be followed by an unnamed Girl who chastises her using foul language.
Sunshine goes to her boyfriend, Miggy, who dismisses the pregnancy and tells her to abort. Enraged at his apathy, Sunshine smashes his car’s windshield using a sledgehammer provided by the Girl. That night, Sunshine goes partying with her friend, Thea, in the hopes that she could terminate her pregnancy through alcohol. But after encountering the Girl, Sunshine reveals her pregnancy to Thea. Sunshine blackmails Miggy into providing money to buy an abortifacient. Afterwards, she undertakes a failed attempt to abort at a motel, resulting in her being hospitalized after she bleeds uncontrollably and collapses in pain, as the Girl desperately comforts her. While recovering, the hospital’s bigoted obstetrician harangues Sunshine until she is fetched by Geleen, who had noticed Sunshine's pregnancy after she vomited while taking care of Gracie. Geleen tells Sunshine to rest, but she refuses, saying that gymnastics is her life.
Rumors of Sunshine’s pregnancy spread, prompting Eden to warn Sunshine, who continues to deny the allegations, that she will be removed from the team and to urge her to keep her problems separate from her athletics. Sunshine buys another abortifacient and is afterwards accosted by a 13-year-old pregnant girl, Mary Grace, who also wants an abortion. Sunshine is moved when Mary Grace reveals she was impregnated by her uncle Bobot and gives her money to buy abortifacients. Sunshine then catches up with the Girl and a gay child, Ariana, who is a runaway from her abusive family.
As they chatter, Ariana senses something is wrong in their home and rushes back. Sunshine and the Girl follow her, only to discover Mary Grace bleeding and unconscious after trying to abort by herself in a motel. The three rush Mary Grace to the hospital, but the doctors fear legal punishment for assisting in Mary Grace's abortion until a sympathetic doctor, Helena, discreetly agrees to help. Mary Grace eventually recovers but loses her child. As Sunshine comforts Mary Grace, she overhears the Girl searching for Ariana, who has disappeared. Sunshine tries to comfort her, but the latter reproaches her and runs away. Sunshine tells Mary Grace’s mother what happened, only to find her cavorting with Bobot. Enraged, Sunshine bludgeons Bobot with a bottle before escaping.
Thea secures an appointment at Helena’s clinic for Sunshine’s abortion. At her home, Sunshine is visited by Miggy and his father, Jaime, a pastor. Miggy makes an insincere apology as Jaime offers to help care for their would-be child, but Sunshine refuses, saying that she does not want to be a mother, as Geleen orders the men out. Geleen comforts Sunshine and expresses her support for whatever decision she makes. Afterwards, Sunshine is shown training as the Girl reappears and watches her routine, prompting Sunshine to ask her if she understood her decision. The Girl replies in the affirmative and tearfully embraces Sunshine, revealing that her abortion was pushed through and that the Girl was Sunshine's unborn child. The film concludes with Sunshine competing in a gymnastics competition, as her family and coaches cheer her on.
Antoinette Jadaone began conceiving the film in 2020 after watching Jojo Rabbit, in which she noted the idea of the titular character imagining a fictitious adaptation of Adolf Hitler into life. As part of her research, Jadaone cited the presence of abortifacients being sold next to religious items around Quiapo Church, a Catholic shrine in Manila.[5] She also sought to raise awareness about women’s reproductive rights, teenage pregnancy and abortion, which she described as taboo in the Philippines due to the country's conservative background.[6]
The film first premiered on September 13, 2024 at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival,[5] which Racal was unable to attend due to scheduling and visa issues.[11] The film had a European premiere at the 2025 Berlinale as part of the Generation 14plus section on 18 February 2025.[4] The film was selected at the 24th New York Asian Film Festival held from July 11 to July 27, 2025 for its New York Premiere.[12]
Ralph Revelar Sarza, writing for ABS-CBN, said the film served as a critique of patriarchy, noting that it also centered on women’s reproductive health in a country that "insists on children being born without ever insisting on giving them a world worth being born into". He also noted the role of the unnamed Girl as the film's "riskiest move" for its surrealism, calling her a projection of the titular character's inner turmoil.[19] Charlie Vitug, writing for SINEGANG.ph, said the film represents a flicker of hope in the city that is surrounded by conservative forces that continues to oppress the choices of women.[20] While acknowledging that the film's "moral imagery veers toward the didactic," Paul Emmanuel Enicola of The Movie Buff said that Sunshine is "a film that relishes discomfort, one that forces us to confront the silences we’ve learned to live with: around abortion, around reproductive rights, around what we teach our daughters (and sons) about sex, choice, and consequence."[21]
After Sunshine won the Crystal Bear award for best film in the Berlin International Film Festival, Indiecan Entertainment acquired the rights to distribute the film in North America and produce an English adaptation of the movie which will be directed by Avi Federgreen and to be produced by Federgreen Entertainment and Siné Media Inc.[26]
References
↑ "Sunshine". TIFF - Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
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