RVA’s International Short Film Contest Awards: “Circles” Calls for Creativity & Collaboration

Sometimes a short film quietly says what long speeches cannot. Circles, a five-minute film directed by Jon Evan Terence Yorac, does exactly that.

At first glance, the story is simple. Two children play with things most of us would throw away, discarded scraps, broken objects, and everyday trash. But in their hands, these forgotten things become toys, worlds, and possibilities. The children do not see waste; they see wonder. As their play unfolds, the film gently reveals a deeper truth: nothing truly ends. Everything, like a circle, moves, transforms, and begins again.

Watching Circles feels like rediscovering something we have forgotten as adults. We live in a culture that consumes quickly and discards even faster. Yet the children remind us that value is not always where we think it is. What we call “garbage” may still hold life, purpose, and beauty.

Here the film resonates deeply with Laudato Si'. Pope Francis speaks about creation as an interconnected web where nothing exists in isolation. The circle the children draw with their play becomes a quiet theological symbol: the circle of life, where creation gives freely, humanity receives, and responsibility calls us to return care instead of greed. Nature offers what we need, but not what our endless desire demands.

The beauty of Circles also lies in the collaborative effort behind it. Produced by Liwan-Ag Productions, the film brings together writers Denz Joshua Tinong and Francis Venlaurence Abelarde, cinematographers Chris Anthony Aquino and Joshua Salva, and a young cast led by Jon Ethan Ting and Rujuan Sta. Lucia. Together they create a film that is simple yet deeply reflective.

In the end, Circles leaves the viewer with a gentle but unsettling question: What if the problem is not that the world runs out, but that we forget how to see its fullness?

And perhaps the children already know the answer.