Filipino director Lav Diaz has revealed plans for two new projects – a film exploring false ideologies and false prophets, and a separate screen adaptation drawing on José Rizal's novel "Noli Me Tangere" – while also discussing his Venice-bound feature "Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors" ("Makikiraan Po"). The film, premiering in Venice's Open section, marks Diaz's return to the festival where he won the Golden Lion in 2016 for "The Woman Who Left", and follows his Cannes 2025 title "Magellan". It continues his ongoing examination of Philippine history, this time focusing on Spanish colonial rule in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

The drama centres on the forced labour used to build the Philippines' colonial-era churches, with Diaz noting that around 30% of the male population reportedly died under the Spanish forced-labour system that also built roads, bridges and forts. He links this history to the encomienda system imposed in 1571, which he says underpins the country's modern class structure, and reflects more broadly on religion as a tool of subjugation, citing conflicts including Gaza, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Darfur. Shot in black and white in Sampaloc, Quezon Province, the film is Diaz's fourth production made in that town.