Photos from Instagram/@kissmymike_official
Filipino American filmmaker Mike Talplacido’s feature directorial debut, In This Moment, is continuing its U.S. festival run after premiering Aug. 23 at the Roxie Theater during the San Francisco Queer Film Festival.
The 82-minute independent drama is scheduled to screen Sept. 18 at Cinema Diverse, the Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival, followed by a Sept. 25 appearance at the OUT at the Movies International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Set in North Carolina, the film follows Luis, a Filipino American writer, and his husband, David, as their marriage is tested by infidelity, grief and caregiving. Zeus Oira plays Luis, with John Wilkins III as David and Ellen B. Williams among the principal cast.
Talplacido, who wrote and directed the film, has described the story as personal but not autobiographical. He said the caregiving storyline drew partly from his experience helping care for his father-in-law.
Born in the Philippines, Talplacido moved to North Carolina in 2008 to pursue an MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lived in the state for about 17 years.
The project received support through the 2025 Filmed in NC Fund, and Talplacido was a 2025 Lambda Literary Writers Retreat fellow.
