Carl Joseph E. Papa
DirectorGeo Lomuntad
ProducerPhilippines
CountryLogline
Five interconnected lives of a transferee, his classmate, the editor-in-chief, an upperclassman, and the principal grapple with their own fears and loyalties as a student newspaper article threatens to dismantle a school’s bedrock of dark secrets.
Short Synopsis
Five interconnected lives of a transferee, his classmate, the editor-in-chief, an upperclassman, and the principal grapple with their own fears and loyalties as a student newspaper article threatens to dismantle a school’s bedrock of secrets.
Outside Manila, 2001: transferee Johan's article on "witnessed" school military training program violence ignites a firestorm. His injured friend Omer denies it, fearing reprisal from Commandant Martin. Martin's charm masks brutal truths, testing his girlfriend Chesca's loyalty as editor-in-chief. Principal Maria Pesigan, Omer's mother, fights to protect the school's reputation. All are forced to confront the cost of silence.
A month before graduation… A dead student is discovered.
“SENTINEL” is a multi-POV animated drama that follows five people connected by youth violence, each driven to protect what matters them—friends, dreams, colleagues, and the system. “Sentinel” poses a haunting question: Is speaking up worth the potential cost of a life?
Carl Joseph E. Papa
CARL JOSEPH E. PAPA is a software engineer by profession but being a storyteller has always been his passion. His short animated films and feature length animated film have been recognized in the Philippines and abroad — Annecy International Animation Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Animator Film Festival, NETPAC, BIFAN, Asia Pacific Screen Awards to name a few. His most recent film, “The Missing”, made history as the first animated film to represent the Philippines for Best international Feature Category at the Academy Awards.
Geo Lomuntad
Geo LOMUNTAD is a young producer, who started out as a script supervisor in Manila, Philippines. In 2018, he was an associate producer for Bianca Balbuena in co-production films Fan Girl (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2020) and Boldstar (CJ Entertainment Prize, Asian Project Market 2019, and Berlinale Co-Production Market 2020). He is an alumnus of Talents Tokyo, Busan Asian Film School, Full Circle Lab, IFFR Producers Lab and Berlinale Talents. In 2021, his produced short film I Get So Sad Sometimes has won Best Short Film at QCinema International Film Festival and later on went to screen in international fests including, Inside Out FF and Queer East FF. His first produced feature film, The Missing (Iti Mapukpukaw, directed by Carl Joseph Papa), which won Best Animated Film in Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2024, was the Philippines’ official submission to the 96th Academy Awards. His recent film, Sunshine, had its World Premiere at Toronto IFF, Centerpiece and won the Crystal Bear in Berlin IFF 2025. In 2025 he founded his production company Super! to champion more Filipino films around the world. He is currently working on his third producing project, Sentinel, with Carl Joseph Papa.