Discoveries from Philippines World Cinema

Young Rolly and Susan's love is tested by their families' rough history and class divide

Hernan, a lowly informal dweller, gets engaged in a trivial property dispute with his neighbor. He is criminally charged with attempted murder after a heated altercation. He brings out a bolo from the kitchen to confront his neighbor. At that time his wife is slaving herself in Dubai as an OFW, and he is left to give unconditional care to her 2 children from her first marriage.

Ang erpat kong Astig: Directed by Felix E. Dalay. With Jinggoy Estrada, Carmina Villaroel, Rufa Mae Quinto, Bea Bueno.

A romantic drama that revolves around childhood friends Eric, Gemma and Ponsie. Eric is the weak, fickle minded playboy, Gemma is the pretty tomboy, and Ponsie on the other hand is their gay friend. Vivian wants Eric as her boyfriend, and Gemma promises to make it happen. However, along the way, Eric and Gemma end up falling in love.

Arkey (Arkey Muñoz) is a painter. He has a new client, and he needs to look for a male model willing to pose nude for a portrait. He soon encounters Lance (Lance Lopez), the brother of an acquaintance. Despite not having much experience posing, Lance is hired on the spot. As Arkey paints Lance, Arkey develops some unexpected feelings. He lusts after his newfound model, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it. But unbeknownst to the painter, there is more lust going in his house, as his wife Adriana (Adriana Gomez) has set her sights on Lance as well.

Gene is running away from the wrath of his own father while Mark is running away from his past. Gene is from Mariveles, Bataan while Mark is from Leyte. Destiny plays cupid on them as they meet in a far-away and picturesque town of Arayat, Pampanga. The need for somebody to hold and their mutual attraction seal their encounter. Can Gene and Mark start a happy life of togetherness in their new-found paradise or will their past continue to haunt them?

It’s Monday. Mundane. Shitty. Boring. Unexpected. Quiet. Noisy. Heartbreaking. Just your typical Monday.

'Di Ka Pasisiil, a documentary about the 2017 Marawi siege

A short documentary film about a family photo album that becomes an animated journey for an only-child reflecting on his parent's belief that a color could influence his gender preference.

At the start of the twentieth century, a small province-island earned the moniker 'Sugar Bowl' when it became the sugar capital of the Philippines- the Island of Negros.

Secret Agent D'D saves tourist town from the deadly vicious vamp.

Years after mining operations began, a once rugged and undisturbed town changes drastically. Koi, 22, returns home for the first time since leaving for college, and does so with an infected ear. He joins his mother Tonet in waiting for his father, both of them clueless as to whether his father could make it home alive after an accident in the extraction tunnel. As Koi reconnects with his hometown in slow decay, he fears the impending possibility of losing both his father and his hearing. Part fiction, part experiment, and purposefully blurring the distinction, Here, Here is a loose visual study on landscapes and terrains, both natural and beyond.

Two legendary characters come face to face in the clash of the decade - but only ONE must win.

Filipinos land in the moon.

Riles is a documentary about the life of a riles resident, Eddie, in a squatter area along the railroad tracks within the downtrodden section of Balic-balik, Manila.

Official entry to the first Metro Manila Film Festival in 1979 directed by Emmanuel Borlaza and starred Jay Ilagan, Ronald Corveau, Rez Cortez, Anna Marin, Fred Montilla, Rosemarie Gil, Alicia Alonzo, Anita Linda, Romeo Rivera, Dino Kortes, Michael de Mesa, and Marissa del Mar.

A story of how a violent crime disrupts a quaint rural town in Batangas. A girl’s dead body is discovered and puts the whole town on trial while the former’s companion remains missing. The ensuing media spectacle slowly exposes the town’s secrets. As they celebrate its yearly festival by the lake, an unknowing sleeping evil unravels and haunts the townsfolk.

A barangay avoids hell through a yearly sacrifice of a child. Desperate to make peace with her friend's death six years ago, Mads takes the matter into her own hands.

A student is about to move on to the next phase of his life when an incident draws him into the unknown.

Wearing a talisman that renders him invulnerable, Andong Agimat, a character from the graphic novel Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat, thwarts a theft while an accidental onlooker watches the incident unravel before her.

A production thesis by Sasha B. Palomares

One summer, Boni witnesses people transforming into animals and returning to the wilderness, only to find his grandmother slowly becoming a St. Peter Fish — glug glug glug.

A heartbroken teenage girl who adopts a dog for companionship. She meets a kind-hearted, good-looking volunteer at the animal shelter, but her love and loyalty to the dog are tested when she receives a job offer abroad.

Barangay Krus na Ligas in the wee hours of dawn, slowly waking up from its slumber.

Mara, an 18-year-old closeted queer woman, is spending her birthday on some house party, flirting with a female stranger when she receives a text from her OFW father to spend her college term break at their house to be with her distant mother, Carmen. At home, Carmen insists on throwing a debut party for her daughter, including finding the perfect escort. Mara is torn between expressing her true self and appeasing her mother.

Seeking to survive as she steps into adulthood, Althea re-encounters her childhood fear of the dark as it slowly returns and disturbs her night. As the darkness gains the upper hand, she gets a glimpse of an unspeakable horror.

Across a white void, old documents and items come to life and speak: a cacophony of archival sounds and voices of youth growing up in an elite all-boys' private Catholic high school in the Philippines bursts through as the country undergoes great change and political turmoil. Navigating these systems of influence, power, and control, both the documents and repressed voices seek their own means of liberation, as lines break out of formation and colored ink spills out of the pages.

Jed, a graduating college student whose mind is bugled by his financial problem due to his remaining school balance. One fateful day he got a work offer from his friend, without any inkling that the offer will lead him to his demise.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines weaves distinct cultures and continues its Paskong Pinoy traditions to celebrate the joyous season this December with BINURDA, an amazing holiday production featuring the hottest artists and performers in the country such as the Bayanihan, The National Dance Company of the Philippines, the Nightingales, the Male Ensemble of the Philippines (MEP), and surprise performers.

Amidst the pandemic, Annika, a 10-year-old student attending her online class, came across a school requirement pertaining to women. As she does her school work she pondered upon society's expectation of women alongside her mother, who she highly looked up to.

A man digs out his dead partner from the soil to spend another day with him.

THIS IS A TRUE STORY - A PROMINENT PSYCHIATRIST TRIES TO "REFORM" THREE WOMAN PERCEIVED BY CONSERVATIVE SOCIETY TO BE "DEVIANTS" - A LESBIAN, A FRIGID WOMAN, AND NYMPHOMANIAC.

In a period beset by a plague, the visionary’s portal to his soul has been thwarted by the four corners of his abode. With imagination as the only detour, the drifting of thoughts is inevitable. Amidst the overcast, the curtain opens to the apparent truth – truth that no frame can impede a visionary.

In 1982, when the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was at its peak, more than 1.5 million inhabitants had to move to Iran looking for a new life. Taghi, born in Iran, wants to escape the ruthless discriminations Afghans are subjected to on a daily basis. Against all odds, he decides to move back to the country of his parents. But unexpected challenges await there for him.

In between harvests, to supplement their income, Judith is sent by her father to catch birds which they would peddle come Sunday outside the church. On their trip to the city, Judith requests that they watch a movie after selling off all the birds. What Judith gets in return is a torotot (trumpet) made out of rolled-up film negatives. The story is set in Bikol where it is a practice among rural folks to surround the perimeter of their farmlands with film negatives to ward off birds eating the newly sown palay seeds.

When a male massage therapist unexpectedly faces his ex-lover during a usual massage session, the massage session is a spiraled revelation of truths and secrets.

A grieving woman struggling to move on from her mother's death discovers a mysterious box that grants her small moments of happiness, but she soon becomes addicted to its power as it slowly consumes her, revealing it to be a demonic trap set by her family's cult to use her grief as a sacrifice.

In a flood‑prone community, a mother fights to keep her children’s education stable as rising waters force families to move and adapt—revealing the quiet resilience needed to protect learning where nothing stays dry for long.

They have no self to call their own, so they began to steal others, hoping to find themself inside someone's life.

Awkward and reserved Omar spends his night helping an otherwordly creature find its way back home. In the process, he realizes just how alike they truly are.

A documentary about PLHIVs’ (People Living with HIV) journey of defeat, acceptance, treatment, and life successes. The story follows the lives of Elena Felix, Lorenz Olleres, Gary “Papa Chen” Catalbas, and Zoe Black as they grapple with the effects of HIV and the stigma and discrimination surrounding it. The film explores their current status and how they continue to live with unwavering hope, purpose, and strength.

A widow hosts a banquet for six absent chairs, conversing with a past she avoids.

A pencil and eraser, both with different characteristics, become friends after a module assignment. The pencil shares his goal of achieving a perfect score, while the eraser is kind and understanding. As time passes, the pencil realizes he has smudged and will disappear. They continue answering the module, but the eraser’s erasure of the pencil’s answers leads to an argument. The pencil, angered, forcibly throws the eraser, but accidentally finds a notepad, revealing his selfishness.

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.

In 1996 Manila, two star-crossed lovers torn between faith, family, and a collapsing system finds love and solace in a place that listens, shelters, and ultimately traps them.

Da Real Makoy is a 1977 Philippine propaganda documentary film. The film follows the tenth president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, setting a field trip to Ilocos Norte, Marcos's hometown, with his eldest daughter Imee Marcos. Shot entirely in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte with some animation sequences, the film was produced by National Media Production Center (NMPC) under her leadership Imee, who serves as a producer, and was written and directed by cartoonist Nonoy Marcelo in his directorial debut.

When a stocky Filipino-American tween spills ketchup on a traditional heirloom dress, she must accompany her mother to the laundromat where her attempts to restore it only make her feel more displaced in her own skin.

Across the busy streets and tucked-away corners of Cebu, Snafu follows the story of a young graffiti artist whose tags speak of freedom, mortality, and creative defiance in a city that often looks away.

Five Generation Y kids: Lord Guia (24 years old), the optimist, Carl Capuno (24 years old), the advocate, Erica Palmera (23 years old), the thriver, Jean Fabillar (26 years old), the young mother, and Cortz Cortes (29 years old), the rockstar.

In a grey digital world ruled by stoic enforcers, a clay avatar battles social media ridicule and emotional suppression until the pressure fractures its shell, exposing a spectrum of feelings and a fragile hope for liberation.

Surrounded by overdue bills and broken dreams, a desperate Illion searches his room for a rare dreamcatcher to pay off his debts - only to be transported back to the memory of his childhood home, forcing him to confront what’s he’s truly willing to let go of in order to move forward.

In a slum area that's never quiet, Carlos "Totoy Golem" Capistrano is there to silence troublemakers. Things start to get messy when the problem is caused by a well-respected comrade.

A young man discovers a diary that begins to shape his life in unexpected ways, pushing him to question the true cost of his choices.

When a girl on the brink of her 18th birthday reluctantly agrees to her boyfriend’s request for sexual intimacy, she begins to have unsettling dreams in the days leading up to it—visions that spark a journey of self-discovery as she steps into adulthood

A woman lied about her real life when she met a man on a dating app.

A young, idealistic 17-year-old boy’s dreams of becoming a police officer are tragically shattered when a late-night encounter with an unanticipated culprit ends in an unexpected turn of events.

14-year-old Grace learns Bisaya from her mom for breakfast, to impress her crush for lunch, before she tastes and translates her bittersweet growing pains with an imminent departure for dinner.

Ace, a closeted gay guy, learns Judo in a class full of straight men, channeling his inner Mulan.