“A Brief Encounter”, interview with director Liryc Dela Cruz

Liryc Dela Cruz, director of the short film A Brief Encounter, discusses his latest work at the International Critics Week section of the Venice Film Festival 2026. The film explores themes of trauma, tenderness, and human connection amid a backdrop of violence and digital detachment.

Exploring Tenderness in A Brief Encounter

Dela Cruz explains that the story was inspired by a conversation about Filipino digital cleaners, highlighting the often unseen labor behind online footprints. The narrative centers on a woman who receives distressing news about loved ones’ suicides, but instead of dwelling on violence, the film emphasizes intimate gestures and human care. He emphasizes that the off-screen tragedies serve as a stark contrast to the gentle physical contact portrayed on screen, aiming to evoke empathy without explicit violence. The filmmaker also notes his intention to capture fleeting moments of connection that stand out amid a flood of violent images in contemporary media.

The Role of the Digital Space

The director discusses his deliberate use of changing aspect ratios, shifting from color to black and white and from wide to square formats, to reflect the evolving nature of digital identities. He sees cinema as a collective experience that can produce profound emotional responses, especially when depicting moments of tenderness and joy often invisible in mainstream portrayals. Dela Cruz highlights his desire to offer viewers a different perspective—one that celebrates human pleasure and desire beyond suffering, challenging the Western tendency to fetishize poverty and pain. His aim is to create a space where viewers can see others as complex beings capable of feeling and self-determination.

Current Projects and Future Directions

Dela Cruz shares that he is working on a new feature titled Una festa peruviana, a love letter to Rome that explores the presence of bodies in the city’s landscape. Unlike his previous works rooted in his home country, this project reflects his current life in Italy and his interest in how bodies inhabit and reroute through space without invasion but through coexistence. He expresses enthusiasm for his upcoming film and hopes that his recent short, A Brief Encounter, will resonate with audiences by emphasizing subtlety and human connection in a time dominated by images of violence.

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