Vertical poster for the 2020 Filipino boys' love film The Boy Foretold by the Stars

The Boy Foretold by the Stars

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SYNOPSIS

The Boy Foretold by the Stars is a Philippine boys' love feature film, written and directed by Dolly Dulu and produced by Clever Minds Inc. with The Dolly Collection and Brainstormers Lab. It runs to 107 minutes in Filipino and English, opened on 25 December 2020 as an official entry in the Metro Manila Film Festival, and was distributed through the Upstream streaming service rather than in cinemas, since the 2020 festival ran online.

Dominic Cruz visits a fortune teller to ask a question he has been carrying for some time: who is he going to end up with. Baby R gives him three signs to watch for. At a retreat organised by his all-boys Catholic school he meets Luke Armada, who matches every one of them, which turns a private hope into an immediate practical problem. Luke has a girlfriend and a reputation, Dominic has classmates who notice everything, and the institution around them has its own settled view of what boys are for. Timmy Ramos and the rest of Dominic's year provide the running commentary. The film follows what happens when a prophecy is easy to receive and very difficult to act on.

Dulu adapted the story from his own college play, Ang Hangal. The festival responded well: the film took second Best Picture, the award for Best Original Theme Song for "Ulan", and the Gender Sensitivity Award, with further nominations including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Adrian Lindayag. It claims to be the first mainstream film in the boys' love genre made in the Philippines. A sequel series, Love Beneath the Stars, was announced on 2 February 2021, produced by Dreamscape Entertainment with Clever Minds Inc. and bringing most of the cast back.

The film's route to viewers was unusual even by the standards of that year. The Metro Manila Film Festival is normally a cinema event, occupying screens across the country over Christmas; in 2020 it moved online, which meant a boys' love title reached the festival's audience through a streaming account rather than a ticket queue. Whether it would have been programmed, or seen, under ordinary conditions is a question the record cannot settle.

CONTENT DETAILS

Native Title
The Boy Foretold by the Stars
Original Title
The Boy Foretold by the Stars
Adaptation
Adapted by Dolly Dulu from his own college play, Ang Hangal. No novel or comic source is involved.
Genres
ComedyComing-of-AgeDramaForbidden LoveRomanceSchoolYouth
Themes
BL
Key Themes
Prophecy And FateCatholic School SettingFortune TellerSchool RetreatMetro Manila Film FestivalAdapted From A Stage PlayTrans Supporting CharacterFirst SignsFestival AwardsFilipino Boys LoveStreaming Festival ReleaseAdolescent Peer Pressure
Country
Philippines
Language
Filipino, English
Duration
107 min
Aired Start
Release Year
2020

RELATED CONTENT

Vertical poster for the 2021 Filipino boys' love web series Love Beneath the Stars
Love Beneath the Stars

MAIN CAST & CHARACTERS

Portrait photograph of Filipino actor Adrian Lindayag
Adrian Lindayag
Dominic Cruz
Portrait photograph of Filipino actor Keann Johnson
Keann Johnson
Luke Armada

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Format: A 107-minute feature film in Filipino and English, not a web series, released on 25 December 2020.
  • Festival: An official entry in the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival, which was held online that year and distributed through the Upstream service.
  • Awards: Took second Best Picture, Best Original Theme Song for “Ulan” and the Gender Sensitivity Award at that festival.
  • Nominations: Further nominations included Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Actor for Adrian Lindayag.
  • Authorship: Dolly Dulu wrote and directed, adapting his own college play Ang Hangal.
  • Producers: Clever Minds Inc. with The Dolly Collection and Brainstormers Lab.
  • Cast: Adrian Lindayag as Dominic Cruz, Keann Johnson as Luke Armada, Iyah Mina as the fortune teller Baby R and John Leinard Ramos as Timmy Ramos.
  • Claim: The production describes itself as the first mainstream film in the boys’ love genre made in the Philippines.
  • Continuation: A sequel series, Love Beneath the Stars, was announced on 2 February 2021, co-produced by Dreamscape Entertainment and Clever Minds Inc., and is held as a separate record here.
  • Languages: Filipino and English, as with most of the Philippine titles of this period.

EDITOR’S VERDICT

7/10

Reviewed by Renkaze, editor of BL & GL Flix

A festival entry rather than a web release, and the difference in ambition is obvious from the first ten minutes. This is a film that wants to be judged as a film.

What it achieves

Adrian Lindayag carries it. Dominic is written as someone whose enthusiasm is a defence mechanism, chattering to fill space he is afraid of, and Lindayag finds the anxiety underneath without ever slowing the performance down. His Best Actor nomination at the festival was earned. Iyah Mina brings an unhurried authority to Baby R that the film leans on whenever it needs to reset.

The school setting is well observed. Uniforms, corridor hierarchies, the specific cruelty of adolescent boys policing each other, the retreat as an institutional ritual that briefly loosens the rules — all of it is rendered with a specificity that suggests firsthand knowledge rather than research.

What it does not

The screenplay shows its origins as a stage play. Several scenes are structured as extended two-handers in fixed locations, with dialogue doing work that a camera could have done more economically, and the film runs at 107 minutes when 90 would have served it better. The middle section repeats its central impasse across three separate conversations.

Keann Johnson has the harder and less rewarding part. Luke is written largely as an object of hope, and Johnson is not given enough interior material to make him a person with his own stake in the outcome; the film is far more interested in being loved than in loving.

The production is also visibly modest. Lighting and sound are adequate rather than good, and a festival release on a streaming platform exposes both.

The supporting ensemble

Where the film relaxes, it is very good. The classmates around Dominic are sketched quickly and convincingly, and the retreat sequences in particular manage the difficult trick of being funny and threatening at once. John Leinard Ramos is a genuine asset as Timmy. These stretches suggest a looser, sharper film than the one the central romance eventually insists on.

Verdict

Uneven, sincere, and genuinely significant. Its place in this catalogue rests on being a boys' love story admitted to the country's biggest film festival and taking prizes there, at a moment when the genre was otherwise confined to free web video. As a film it is good in parts; as a marker it is unambiguous.

Final Score: 7.0/10

What The Boy Foretold by the Stars is about

The interesting decision here is putting a prophecy inside a Catholic school. Both systems promise that the shape of a life is already known and that the individual's job is to recognise it rather than choose it. The film sets the two against each other: the fortune teller's three signs tell Dominic that this boy is the answer, while the institution he attends every day tells him that this particular answer does not exist. He is being handed certainty by one authority and having it withdrawn by another.

That is a sharper structure than a coming-out story usually gets. Dominic never really has to discover what he wants; he is told, early, and by someone he believes. What remains is the far less tidy business of whether anyone around him will permit it. Fate becomes not a comfort but an obligation, and the film is honest about how little help it is when the actual obstacles are a classmate's mockery and a teacher's silence.

Baby R matters to this, and not only as a plot device. She is a trans woman played by a trans actress, holding the position of the person who knows how things turn out, in a story otherwise full of people who refuse to say what they know. Putting that role in that place, in a Catholic school film released at Christmas, is a deliberate piece of casting rather than an accident.

OFFICIAL TRAILER

OFFICIAL OST

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is this a film or a series?

A feature film, running 107 minutes. The characters continue in a six-episode series, Love Beneath the Stars, which is held as a separate record here.

Where was it first shown?

At the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival, which ran online that year because of the pandemic. It was released on 25 December 2020 through the Upstream streaming service rather than in cinemas.

What did it win?

Second Best Picture, Best Original Theme Song for "Ulan", and the Gender Sensitivity Award. It was also nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Cinematography and several other categories.

Is it based on anything?

Yes. Dolly Dulu adapted it from his own college play, Ang Hangal, and directed the film himself.

What are the three signs?

The film does not reduce them to a checklist for the audience early on; they are given to Dominic by the fortune teller Baby R and recognised as the story goes along. Watching him notice them is most of the first act.

Is it really the first of its kind?

The film claims to be the first mainstream Philippine production in the boys' love genre. Several web series preceded it, so the claim rests on the distinction between a festival film and a free online release.

Who plays the leads?

Adrian Lindayag as Dominic Cruz and Keann Johnson as Luke Armada, with Iyah Mina as the fortune teller Baby R and John Leinard Ramos as Timmy Ramos.

Written and verified by Renkaze · Last updated 20 September 2026

Awards, credits and streaming details recorded here follow published sources at the time of writing and may have changed. The single image identifies the film and is used for that purpose only; see our disclaimer.

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