Diwa Filipino Film Festival 2026 at Wing Luke Museum

Diwa Filipino Film Festival of Seattle is back at Wing Luke Museum for Filipino American History Month. Saturday and Sunday, October 3–4, 2026, the screenings are in the Tateuchi Story Theatre at 719 S King Street, in Chinatown-International District.

This is a ticketed film festival, not a street fair. The theatre holds about 70 people. Buy a program or a full-festival pass on Eventbrite before you plan dinner on King Street.

Diwa started in 2014 as a sidebar of Pagdiriwang, the Philippine festival at Seattle Center. In 2025 it ran its first standalone weekend at Wing Luke. The 2026 June dates, Saturday and Sunday June 6–7, sat back inside Pagdiriwang at Armory Loft 2, free from noon to 6 p.m. That half is over. October is the museum half.

The festival is directed and curated by Adrian Alarilla, a writer, filmmaker, and historian born in the Philippines and based in Seattle. His own work sits in personal documentary and Filipino migration. Diwa is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike and holds a 4Culture Sustained Support grant.

The organizer’s Eventbrite pass lists eight programs. Saturday, October 3: Shorts 1, Thicker Than Water, 10:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Shorts 2, Kwentong Migrante (Migrant Stories), 1:00 to 2:45, with filmmaker Q&A, co-presented by Tanggol Migrante. Shorts 3, You Can Only Laugh, 3:00 to 4:45. Shorts 4, The Specters Within, 5:00 to 6:45. Centerpiece feature No Room for Love, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 4: Shorts 5, The Struggle Continues, 1:30 to 2:45. Shorts 6, Kung ’Di Man (If Not), 3:00 to 4:15. Closing night is All the Things I Leave You (Patawid), Jade Castro’s 163-minute Ilocano feature, 4:30 to 7:30, with a filmmaker Q&A, co-presented with Pride Asia.

Ticket prices live on the Diwa Eventbrite pages. A full pass is sold as eight programs plus an opening reception. The Pagdiriwang site still says stay tuned for October details, so use Eventbrite for the live card.

Wing Luke opened in 1967 and has been in the East Kong Yick Building on South King since 2008. It is a Smithsonian affiliate and the only pan-Asian Pacific American community-based museum in the country. Tateuchi Story Theatre is the small house with the conserved Nippon Kan advertising curtain as a backdrop. You are watching Filipino films in a room that already holds Nihonmachi history. That is the neighborhood argument for coming here instead of a multiplex.

Pista sa Nayon in July was the outdoor Filipino day at Seward Park. CID Night Market closed September 26 on the same streets. This weekend is the sit-down version. International District/Chinatown Station is a short walk. Museum questions go to (206) 623-5124.

Our take: pick one shorts block and one feature. Saturday’s migrant-stories program plus the Castro closer on Sunday is enough. The room is small. Do not assume a walk-up.

When: October 3–4, 2026 (see Eventbrite for session times)
Where: Wing Luke Museum, Tateuchi Story Theatre, 719 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104