About Us

PRESENTING “THE BAMBOO GODS PROJECT”: A multi-faceted, multi-media project masterminded by Australian filmmaker and film historian ANDREW LEAVOLD to research, record, preserve and disseminate a history of Philippine cinema in its totality, with emphasis on its lesser-known, forgotten and undiscovered films, genres, personnel, etc...

The BAMBOO GODS PRODUCTION UNIT: Directing, producing and writing documentary features: Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010), The Search For Weng Weng (2013), The Last Pinoy Action King (2015, currently The Most Beautiful Creatures On The Skin Of The Earth (to be released in 2024); recording interviews, editing features and providing audio commentaries for DVD and Blu-Ray releases...

The BAMBOO GODS INTERVIEW PROJECT: Recording the oral history of Filipino cinema – filmmakers, actors, bit players, stuntmen, producers and distributors, etc - via video, audio and text interviews...

The BAMBOO GODS ARCHIVE: Sourcing film prints, scanning and restoring 16mm and 35mm films; archiving VHS tapes, VCDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays, posters, lobby cards, magazines, books, articles, ads; digitizing films and collecting them onto harddrives, and then making them accessible to researchers and educational institutions...

The BAMBOO GODS TRANSLATING and SUBTITLING UNIT: Youtube Project – translating Tagalog films into English and making them available for free on Youtube; providing subtitles for DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Tagalog films...

The BAMBOO GODS EDUCATION UNIT: Giving talks, seminars, university lectures, presentations, screenings, Q&As, master classes, academic conferences; programming film festivals, organizing and introducing film screenings; writing and publishing books, articles and film reviews for journals, magazines and fanzines; maintaining a social media presence via Facebook group Filipino B Film Fans...

WANT TO VOLUNTEER FOR THE BAMBOO GODS PROJECT? We need writers, researchers, transcribers, translators, editors, programmers, promotors and just general enthusiasts (all unpaid, of course, as this is a not-for-profit venture) – please email me at andrewleavold[at]gmail.com and let me know what you would like to do!

Andrew Leavold filming in Weng Weng's Baclaran neighbourhood, February 2007

ANDREW LEAVOLD owned and managed Trash Video, the largest cult video rental store in Australia, from 1995 to 2010. He is now a filmmaker, published author, researcher, film festival curator, musician, and above all, unrepentant and voracious fan of the pulpier aspects of genre cinema. His writing has been published globally in mainstream magazines, academic journals and underground cinema fanzines, for the last two decades.  

SEE BELOW FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF ANDREW’S PHILIPPINES-RELATED PROJECTS

In addition to being the most comprehensive archive of rare, unusual and forgotten films, including a large section of Filipino B-films, Trash Video also held weekly film screenings (2000-2006), toured Australia with film-cut-ups and curated film festival programs, played host to film personalities as diverse as Larry Cohen, Ray Harryhausen and Richard Kern, and had its own weekly TV show on Briz 31 (Schlock Treatment, 2006-2010) screening old drive-in features. The shop was the subject of an award-winning TV documentary Escape From The Planet Of The Tapes in 2003; in the same year Leavold released his directorial debut, the no-budget homage to Doris Wishman and Sixties roughies called Lesbo-A-Go-Go.

In 2000 the store moved from its tiny hole-in-the-wall location in Fortitude Valley to a bigger (and cleaner!) shop in West End. By around 2005 however its stock was still primarily VHS tapes, and with the advent of Amazon, Ebay, streaming and file-sharing services, the rental market was over and it became impossible to even pay the ground rent.

Around the same time Leavold was first invited to Manila to screen “Bamboo Gods And Bionic Boys”, a 90-minute cut-up his favourite Filipino B films. On that November 2006 trip he started interviewing filmmakers and actors, and visiting film archives, libraries and film collections to track down the lost cinema gold of the Philippines – and so the Bamboo Gods Project had unofficially begun,

After Trash Video’s doors finally closed, Leavold became a full-time filmmaker, writer and film historian, touring the world several times with his documentary feature and book The Search For Weng Weng (2013) on his quest to find the two-foot-nine James Bond of the Philippines. His research on Filipino B films contributed to Mark Hartley’s documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010), on which Leavold was also Associate Producer. He has since been recognized both in the Philippines and abroad as the foremost authority in his area of expertise, teaching Philippine film history at university level in Australia, the United States, and throughout the Philippines. 

For his next documentary, Leavold teamed with Daniel Palisa to co-direct The Last Pinoy Action King (2015), both a feature-length documentary on the late Filipino action idol Rudy Fernandez, and a dissection of film royalty, politics, privilege, idolatry, and the Philippines’ pyramid of power. It was chosen as Opening Night Film for the Q-Cinema Film Festival in November 2015.

In December 2020 Leavold reopened Trash Video Archives as an on-line store, cinema research laboratory and film production unit, finally making Trash Video a global empire.

Leavold continues to make films – his most recent documentaries are Pub: The Movie (2022), on Melbourne artist/shock rocker Fred Negro and the old St Kilda music scene, and The Most Beautiful Creatures On The Skin Of The Earth (to be released 2024), on Filipino erotic cinema during the Marcos regime – and is writing a number of books, including Aloha Little Manila about sin, cinema and the Filipino diaspora in Hawaii. Most recently he can be seen briefly as “Panda Pimp” in Dick Dale’s splatter-punk masterpiece Ribspreader (2022, also Associate Producer), in the lead role in a Ghanaian plantation action film White Devil: Freedom Is Coming (2024) directed by the infamous "Ninja"/Samuel J. Nkansah, and in an hour-long documentary on Cleopatra Wong's Marrie Lee, for Singapore TV called Untold Legends: Doris Young (2023). Leavold documented his week-long visit  with "Ninja" in Ghana in a documentary called Film Safari Ghana (2024), which he toured around Australia, UK and the US in late 2024, along with a successful Kickstarter campaign; and so Leavold returns to Ghana in January 2025 to direct and co-produce with "Ninja" a midget kung fu mockumentary called The Taller They Come. And watch for his Film Safari TV series coming very soon…

He has also contributed supplementary features on Blu-Ray and DVD releases for Mondo Macabro (the Filipino horror Silip and Indonesian kung fu/splatter masterpiece Special Silencers), Arrow (the Inside The Mind Of Coffin Joe box set, Black Mama White Mama), Severin (their Blood Island and Hemisphere Horrors box sets, Robowar and Mike de Leon's Rites Of May/Itim), Neon Eagle Video (Lady Exterminator/I Want To Get Even), Umbrella (Houseboat Horror's “Banned In Queensland” essay), Monster Pictures (Larry Cohen’s The Stuff), Bounty’s new label Black Neon (The Set), VCI (Beyond Atlantis), and others.

Looking for cult, genre, foreign, classics, or just plain weird? Trash Video Archives brings you: new and pre-loved DVDs, Blu-Rays, collectable VHS, film-related books, magazines, posters, soundtracks, plus our own exclusive range of cult film T-shirts and Trash Video merchandise!

FILMS by (or with) Andrew Leavold

2025 - **Currently in production** The MOST BEAUTIFUL CREATURES ON THE SKIN OF THE EARTH (co-director, co-writer, co-producer) Documentary Feature - an Australian-Philippines co-production via Death Rides A Red Horse. 

2023 - UNTOLD LEGENDS: DORIS YOUNG (interview subject) Hour-long documentary for Singapore TV on Doris Young aka Marrie Lee, star of the Cleopatra Wong series. I also contributed some of my 2006 footage of Marrie and director Bobby A. Suarez.

2020 - The NEON ACROSS THE OCEAN (associate producer) Feature film partly directed in the Philippines by Matthew Victor Pastor.

2020 – RAMON (interview subject) TV-hour documentary on Ramon Revilla Sr, directed by his grandson Bryan Revilla.

2015 - The LAST PINOY ACTION KING (co-director, co-producer, co-writer) Documentary feature on the late action star Rudy Fernandez.

2015 - I AM JUPITER, I AM THE BIGGEST PLANET (associate producer) Organized Manila shoot for director Matthew Victor Pastor's short film. 

2015 - CERTIFIED DEAD (actor) Cameo role in a Singapore feature directed by Marrie "Cleopatra Wong" Lee.

2013 - The SEARCH FOR WENG WENG (director, co-producer, co-writer) Premiered Manila 29/11/13.

2013 - OTSO (actor) Cameo role in a Filipino indie feature directed by Elwood Perez.

2010 - MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED! (associate producer, additional footage, original concept) Feature length documentary written and directed by Mark Hartley, based on the original "The Search
For Weng Weng" concept. Premiered at Melbourne International Film Festival 24/07/10.

2007 - ZOMBIE MARIACHI (actor, producer, additional camera) Short film directed by Filipino guerrilla filmmaker Khavn de la Cruz during his 2007 BIFF appearance. Leavold plays "Great White Zombie Hunter"! 

DVD/BLU-RAY BONUS FEATURES by Andrew Leavold

2024 - RITES OF MAY/ITIM (dir. Mike de Leon, 1976) Blu-Ray release on Severin, contains Leavold's audio commentary

2021 – SILIP (dir. Elwood Perez, 1986) Blu-Ray release on Mondo Macabro includes all of Leavold’s DVD bonus features from 2007, plus a new Sarsi Emmanuelle interview and audio commentary

2019 – CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES (dir. Gerardo de Leon, 1966) Part of Severin’s “Hemisphere Horrors” Blu-Ray box set, contains Leavold’s audio commentary and Eddie Garcia interview

2019 – The BLOOD DRINKERS (dir. Gerardo de Leon, 1964) Part of Severin’s “Hemisphere Horrors” Blu-Ray box set, contains Leavold’s interview with Gerry de Leon’s Assistant Director Dik Trofeo

2019 – ROBOWAR (dir. Bruno Mattei, 1988) Severin’s Blu-Ray release includes Leavold’s James L. Gaines Jr interview.

2019 – BEYOND ATLANTIS (dir. Eddie Romero, 1973) VCI Entertainment’s DVD release includes Leavold’s audio commentary with Howard S. Berger.

2017 – The IMPOSSIBLE KID (dir. Eddie Nicart, 1982) French DVD release (as “L’Invincible Kid Du Kung Fu”) via Bach Films/CNC features Leavold’s filmed introduction.

2016 – BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA (dir. Eddie Romero, 1972) Leavold’s audio commentary and Eddie Romero interview, “The Mad Director Of Blood Island”, on Arrow Video's BluRay release.

2014 – The SEARCH FOR WENG WENG (dir. Andrew Leavold, 2013) Extended sequences and featurettes, "I Love Weng Weng" music clip, SUFF Q and A, on Australia's Monster Pictures’ DVD release.

2012 - FOR Y'UR HEIGHT ONLY (dir. Eddie Nicart, 1981) Leavold’s filmed introductions to his 2007 Schlock Treatment screenings form "The Story Of Weng" featurette, which also includes his original interview footage with Eddie Nicart, on Germany's FilmArt DVD release.

2010 - THEY CALL HER CLEOPATRA WONG/ONE-ARMED EXECUTIONER (dir. Bobby A. Suarez, 1977/83) Interviews with director Bobby A. Suarez and actor Nigel Hogge, on Dark Sky Films' US DVD release.

2007 - SILIP (dir. Elwood Perez, 1986) Interviews with director Elwood Perez and star Maria Isabel Lopez filmed for Mondo Macabro's UK DVD release.

PUBLISHED WRITING by Andrew Leavold

2021 – “Most Beautiful Creatures On The Skin Of The Earth” booklet for the Mondo Macabro Blu-Ray release of Silip (dir. Elwood Perez, 1986)

2020 – “Ang Artista At Ang Falcon” journal article on Eddie Garcia directing Tony Ferrer’s Agent X-44 films, Pelikula Magazine Volume 5, published by the University of the Philippines, December 2020

2019 – “How The Early Pinoy Films Found A Second Home In Hawaii And Ignited An Industry” article on the ANCX website, September 2019

2017 - The Search For Weng Weng book version (LedaTape, Melbourne) ORDER HERE

2016 - "Bionic Guts And Exploding Huts! The Filipino Pulp Factory of Bobby A. Suarez Part Two" in Weng's Chop #9 (USA), pp.84-103

2015 - "Bionic Guts And Exploding Huts! The Filipino Pulp Factory of Bobby A. Suarez Part One" in Weng's Chop #8 (USA), October 2015, pp.25-38

2015 - "Balut Westerns: The Filipino Cowboy as King, and the Rise And Fall of The Goon Action Film" chapter in Domingo Lopez (ed.), Wild Wild East: The Curry Western And The Noodle Western (Tyrannosaurus Books, Barcelona), pp.186-237

2014 - "Strong Coffee With A National Treasure: An Interview with Eddie Romero" article in Cashiers Du Cinemart #18 (USA), March 2014

2014 - "Mananangaal Queen of Quezon City: The Life and Bloodlines of Cecille Baun" catalogue notes for a Cecille Baun exhibition, Quezon City International Film Festival, October 2014

2014 - "Bamboo Gods and Bionic Boys: A Brief History of the Philippines’ B Films" in Plaridel: A Philippine Journal of Communication, Media, and Society (University of the Philippines, Quezon City) Vol. 11 No. 1, 2014, pp.128-172

2013 - "The Tanduay Rum Diaries: Stuck In Ilocos Norte With The Weng Weng Blues Again" on my Death Rides A Red Horse blog, Monster Pictures website, September 2013

2013 - "The Search For Weng Weng: Final Shoot Diary" in Weng's Chop #4 (USA), August 2013

2012 - "The Tanduay Rum Diaries: The Most Famous Cross-Dressing Midget In The Philippines (At This Present Moment)" on the Mondo Macabro blog, 25/04/12

2012 - "The Story Of Weng Weng" essay in Filmrage (UK) Vol 2 #11, and translated into German for the For Your Height Only DVD released in Germany by Filmart

2012 - "Di Ingon 'Nato: Zombies In Our Backyard" essay and director Ivan Zaldarriaga interview, Sinekultura Film Journal (University of San Carlos, Cebu) Issue #4, Second Semester 2012, pp. 14-21; reprinted in Film International 63-4 (Sweden), August 2013

2012 - "The Great Manila Cinema Heist! A Brief History of Philippine Parody and Outright Thievery In The Country That Copyright Forgot, Part One", Cashiers Du Cinemart #17 (USA), October 2012

2011 - "Pop Culture Postcard: Philippines" article in Wordy Mofo online magazine Issue 3 (Sydney), January 2011

2011 - "Aswang! Filipino New Blood" notes for the Fantastic Asia Film Festival catalogue, Melbourne, November 2011

2008 – “Women In Prison” DVD box set review in Empire Magazine (Sydney), March 2008

2008 - "21 Greatest Pinoy B-Movies" article co-written with Lourd de Veyra in FHM Magazine (Philippines), December 2008

2007 - “White Guerrilla In Manila” article [2000-word version] in Firecracker Magazine #4 (London, UK) July 2007; an earlier extended version appeared on Noel Vera's blog and in English and French on the Nanarland website, early 2007

2007 - Squatterpunk review in Brisbane International Film Festival program, July 2007

2006 - They Call Her Cleopatra Wong review in Brisbane International Film Festival program, July 2006 (reprinted in the Cinemanila Film Festival program, November 2006)

1998 - “The Wild & Wacky World Of Filipino Exploitation” review article in Semper magazine #3 (University Of Qld, St Lucia, Australia) May 1998

TALKS, SCREENINGS, ATBP by Andrew Leavold

2023 – screened a double of The Search For Weng Weng and The Last Pinoy Action King, then gave a two hour talk “Pulp Friction: Cult Cinema, Pinoy Style!” at the UPFI, University of the Philippines Dilliman campus, 21/07/23; also introduced a 10th Anniversary screening of The Search For Weng Weng in Cubao, August 2023

2021 - “Bionic Guts And Exploding Huts!” at Metaplex, Sydney. Subtitled “The Filipino B-Film Gooniverse of Bobby A. Suarez”, an exclusive talk and screening of selected scenes from Leavold’s upcoming documentary/book on legendary cult director Suarez (Cleopatra Wong, One-Armed Executioner), 29/05/21

2021 - introduced “Mad, Bad Filipino Trash Double” of W Is War and The Killing Of Satan at Pink Flamingo Cinema, Sydney 28/05/21

2020 – “Mga Dokyumentaryo ng Realidad” virtual panel for PPP Film Talks, 04/12/20

2019 – one of three jury members for the FACINE Film Festival, San Francisco, October 2019

2019 – “Aloha Little Manila, a 30-minute talk and video presentation at Archivo 1984 Gallery, Makati 25/09/19

2019 – Toured “TrashFest 2019”, Leavold’s compilation of weird film clips and Filipino film trailers, around Australia, June to July 2019

2018 – hosted an all-day documentary workshop for FDCP at Gateway Mall, Quezon City 29/10/18

2018 – talk about unofficial archives at the UNESCO Asia Pacific Cinema Documentary Heritage Conference, Novotel, Quezon City 27/10/18

2018 – programmed and introduced a Spanish-language screening of For Your Height Only at STUFF Film Festival, Pulqueria in Mexico City 14/11/18

2017 - Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF): panel member for "Secret Spies Never Die!" discussion on Asian Bond clones, and introduced a restored print of The One-Armed Executioner 26/11/17

2017 - talk on Filipino Comedy and "The Search For Weng Weng" at School of Visual Arts, Manhattan, NYC October 2017

2017 - "Alternative Film Histories" concluding paper at the Sandaan: Philippine Cinema Centennial Conference, Manila September 2017

2017 - "Filipino B Film Masterclass" at School of Asian Studies (SOAS), University of London, August 2017

2017 - Festival Nits de Cinema Oriental de Vic, Spain: member of the jury, and gave "Filipino B Film Masterclass", July 2017

2017 – screened “The Lost Films Of Weng Weng”, Leavold’s special 90-minute edit of three of Weng Weng’s Tagalog films (Da Best In Da West, Stariray, and Legs…Katawan…Babae [all 1981]), around Western Europe and North America during his Search For Weng Weng book tour

2016 – introduced “Supergirl” screening, Archivo 1984 Gallery, Makati, Manila 13/11/16

2015 - talk on Pinoy cult cinema with Leo Katigbak and Manet A. Dayrit, QCinema International Film Festival, Quezon City, Philippines 28/10/15

2015 - member of the Circle Competition Jury, QCinema International Film Festival in Quezon City, Philippines, October 22-31 2015

2015 - delivered two lectures on Filipino film history at the Griffith Film School, QCA, South Bank, Brisbane 16-17/09/15

2015 - "An Australian Guerrilla in Manila" talk at Green Papaya artspace, Quezon City, Philippines 08/07/15

2015 - delivered "The Ten Commandments of Pinoy Westerns" paper at the Digital Divide conference, University of the Philippines Film Institute, Quezon City, Philippines 11/06/15

2015 - Filipino B Film class at the Asia Pacific Film Institute, Quezon City, May 2015

2014 - delivered "The Art Of The B Movie" lecture at Silliman University, Dumaguete, Philippines 04/08/14

2014 - "Filipino B Film Masterclass" at Festival Nits de Cinema Oriental de Vic, Spain 17/07/14

2014 - introduced the preview of Elwood Perez's new film Esoterika: Manila at Fully Booked, Fort Bonifacio, Manila 31/07/14

2014 - "Filipino B Film Masterclass" at the Terracotta Far East Film Festival, London 27/05/14

2012 - Lecture Tour of the Philippines: "Bamboo Gods And Bionic Boys" lecture/screening at UP Diliman 11/07/12, University Of San Carlos in Cebu 04/07/12, and UP Baguio 13/07/12; "Search For Weng Weng" talk at UP Diliman 27/06/12; "James Batman" screening and intro 12/07/12; and "Bruceploitation" talk/Game Of Death screening at JIV Manila Art Gallery 11/07/12

2011 - programmed and introduced "Aswang! Filipino New Blood" double, Fantastic Asia Film Festival, Melbourne 13/11/11

2011 - delivered "Last Tangos In Manila" paper on Filipino bomba and bold cinema at the Erotic Screen Conference at the Griffith University QCA campus, Brisbane 16/02/11, and at the UP College Of Mass Communication, Quezon City 23/06/11

2010 - introduced "Pinoy Halloween" screenings at Asia Pacific Film Institute, Manila 30/10/10 and at Fully Booked, Fort Bonifacio, Manila 31/10/10

2010 - Machete Maidens Unleashed! Q and A with Mark Hartley, Veronica Fury and Leavold, Brisbane International Film Festival 11/11/10

2010 - "Pinoy Grindhouse" lectures at Ateneo University, Quezon City 20/10/10 and University of the Philippines Film Centre (UPFI), Quezon City 04/11/10 (photos are HERE)

2009 - Filipino Horror lecture for Roy Frumkes' horror course, School of Visual Arts, New York City 07/07/09

2008 - delivered lectures on Filipino B film history at University Of The Philippines, Quezon City, and at the Asia Pacific Film Institute, Manila, both November 2008

2008 - delivered "Bamboo Gods And Bionic Boys" paper at the Annual South East Asian Cinema Conference at Ataneo University, Quezon City, November 2008

2007 – played drums for a live soundtrack of Squatterpunk (dir. Khavn de la Cruz, 2006) at the Brisbane International Film Festival

2006 to 2011 – programmed, wrote and introduced Schlock Treatment weekly cult movies (including quite a few Filipino B films!) on Briz 31 Community TV

2006 – screened “Bamboo Gods And Bionic Boys” at the Cinemanila Film Festival, Manila November 2006

2006 – curated Filipino B Film corner - "Bamboo Gods And Bionic Boys" compilation and seminar and “They Call Her Cleopatra Wong” - at the Brisbane International Film Festival 2006

2000 to 2006 – programmed and introduced “Trash Video’s Film Club” weekly screenings at various venues around Brisbane – some of the most popular screenings were the Weng Weng films For Your Height Only (1981) and a live re-voicing of the French-language print of The Impossible Kid (1982)