Taga

Directed by Jill Sachs

Vivi, a third-culture Filipina-American, travels to the Philippines to reconnect with her roots, but falls in with a group of Western eco-volunteers. When they scorn the customs of a remote mountain village, an ancient evil comes knocking.

Jill Sachs is a mixed Filipina-American writer-director, interested in the ways we weave ourselves into mythologies and navigate obsolescence. She grew up feeling between categories in her mountain town, and always looked to the stars and our ghosts, to fill the spiritual gap. Jill earned her MFA in Directing from AFI, and is a recent Finalist for the Disney-AFI Underrepresented Storytellers Initiative and CAPE Julia Gouw Short Film award. She won 2nd place and the Mentorship prize at the 2024 Screencraft Short Script competition, with her travel/folk horror, Taga. Her films have played at festivals like BendFilm, Cinequest, Mallorca, Newport Beach, and won awards at SLO, Filmquest and more. In the commercial world, Jill has worked with some of the greatest storytellers including Alejandro Iñárritu, Chloé Zhao and Mark Romanek. She currently works in post production at Psyop, and enjoys backpacking, art and emerging tech.

Plays in

Opening Films

 Short films have always been at the heart of SDFFF, bringing filmmakers and audiences together. For our first…

Dates & Times

Theater 13, AMC Theater Plaza Bonita, Westfield

October 10, 2025
4:30 pm