Discoveries from Philippines World Cinema

In fantasising about their future and basking in their illusions of success, two college freshmen wrangle with the problems of the present as the ghosts of the future haunt them.

Rowan and Rowel, recent orphans, find themselves at a crossroads where they are forced to make a crucial decision which might lead them to bid farewell to everything that reminds them of their late father.

Asher is seen being mauled by his straight boyfriend and is forced to do things against Asher's will. How could he survive a miserable life?

When Miguel found an unfamiliar rock, everyone in the river including his father becomes aggressive as everyone is trying to get a piece of what they believe is gold rock.

An experimental film that explores the minds of a teenage couple experiencing an unintended pregnancy and their struggles with social pressure, discrimination, and abuse.

Manila's streets are roads to opportunity for the working person, but in transit, the common Filipino endures indignities and hours stuck in traffic. The commute is crucial to everyday life, yet why does the road ahead always feel so stifling?

A day in the life of Charis, a poverty-stricken transgender in her twenties who went through pain, violence, and discrimination.

In this intimate film, the filmmaker reflects on his fears and struggles to reveal his identity to his father through a narration of their memories together.

Confined and isolated within the four corners of her room, a woman’s confusion grows as her room becomes smaller, with marks appearing after every alarm she hears.

A young Bisaya farmer girl needs to keep her family together despite the sudden disappearance of her father. She ventures to the mountains to find her father and reunite her family, but by some unforeseen circumstances, she instead stumbles into an enchanted dimension of Engkantos called "Biringan". There she is tempted to leave her burdens and instead live a life of wealth and abundance in Biringan city, but there is one condition; That she eats the black rice which the mysterious elves served her.

Woof is a stray dog who hopes of finding a friend who would accept him. One night, he meets Oovi, a tiny alien explorer with a mission to collect samples on Earth. Woof and Oovi both became acquainted with each other, and they worked together to complete the mission. When Oovi is about to leave, a child takes his spaceship mistaking it for a toy, leaving Oovi stranded. Woof then decides to help his new friend pursue the child to get back the ship. They were then able to catch up to the child and was able to convince him to return the ship. Oovi takes off, leaving Woof behind with the child who recognizes his loyalty as a friend.

A doll's journey in the digital world to find the solution to remove the huge scar on its face and be beautiful like the people online. There it will encounter obstacles such as unrealistic beauty standards and most of all itself.

Explore the concept of 'Sustainnovation' in entrepreneurship within Quezon Province, a major coconut producer in the Philippines. The film "3Cs, Coconut: Cultivation and Culture" delves into the Coconut as the 'Puno ng Buhay' (Tree of Life), emphasizing its cultural and economic significance in Quezon Province. This documentary showcases sustainnovation stories, illustrating how the coconut tree has fostered sustainable livelihoods, eco-friendly practices, and the integration of science and technology for environmental preservation. Take a captivating journey into the heart of sustainability and innovation in coconut agribusiness, witnessing innovative farming practices, ecological harmony, and groundbreaking technologies that maximize coconut utilization. This eye-opening documentary encapsulates the essence of ingenuity in action, emphasizing that dedication to sustainability and innovation can pave the way for a brighter and greener future for generations to come.

A story of Filipino LGBT migrants who sought life outside the Philippines to assert their rights to gender equality. Personal experiences and life stories about survival, hope, and the continuing struggle of the community in the Philippines. The film gleans into the lives of Filipino LGBTQIA+ migrants in the Netherlands and expounds on the value and importance of creating an inclusive and safe Philippines for the gender marginalized groups.

An ode to the multiplicity, mutability, and expansion of what constitutes a body and a self, through imaging and technological mediations.

Victoria Koh, a detective police officer, returns to her childhood town twenty-five years later to track down an unknown menacing entity who calls himself Santa.

While waiting for their mom to come home, worrisome arise when they never heard anything from their mom. JM, a ten-year-old boy together with his six-year-old brother, Moi-Moi, recreates the house as their playground.

This is a story of a young woman named Layka who enters the life of being a helper to her own aunt, alongside her younger sister, in order to pay the debt of her sick father. Layka experiences cruelty and oppression in the hands of her aunt. Her life is covered with darkness and sadness, until one day her world is shaken with a shocking revelation, twisting the life of the young woman. This film reminds us that life is full of twists and turns, including moments of darkness that will make us feel lost, but there is hope that gives light to each new day, revealing the face of forgiveness, and leading us to the path of a new beginning.

Landscapes, things, men, women and children taken by an "evil eye" more than a century ago haunt the present in this jagged reverie. A persona voicelessly narrates, via captions, going through colonial photographs, digresses to eating fruit and entering a cave on a tropical vacation island.

A Black Beret entry by Rad Pascual in partial fulfillment for their directing class under John Dalog Torres.

In the eyes of a child, aliens are mystical. Their secrets are something which amazes even the depths of one's imagination. We have seen them, we have evidence of their existence. We raise questions like do they have feelings? Are they walking among us? Do they wear make up, apply toner, and put face masks just like us? As we seek for answers to these questions, we are again confronted by another: are aliens made to conceal their realities through their skin care, or their skin care reveals a deeper identity to who they really are?

'Piña, Why is the Sky Blue?' brings us into multiple futures, where technologies have been re-routed to create a spiritual guide steeped in matrilineal knowledge. Here, we learn that Piña is a digital vessel who lives in the distant future and uploads, stores and shares the familial knowledge, dreams and desires transmitted to them from the past. Messengers from various realms and places around the world use digitally altered pineapple fabric to upload their data for the deity, who lives to receive, care for and disseminate the information for its continued preservation.

A flamboyant former First Lady of the Philippines and a “Bad Boy” actor from local cinema find themselves trapped inside the elevator of an old government building. While waiting to be rescued, the First Lady emotionally reveals to the Bad Boy the shocking secret history of the Philippines.

Philippine action movie starring Robert Gonzalez

Following the Japanese invasion in the 1940s, Awiyao comes home to his wife Lumnay to ask her to attend the wedding dance, an invitation that stirs memories of joy, pain, and emptiness. It is an invitation to celebrate his new wedding dance.

Two young, deeply disturbed women discover a different kind of bond despite their contrasting personalities. Mona, with her seemingly calm and controlled façade, has already reached a point in her life wherein she can no longer hope that life will ever get better. Sara, on the other hand, wishes to escape the constant and pointless pain of her uncontrollable need to fall in love. Both women have already attempted several times to kill themselves, seeing that death is their only escape from this repetitive suffering. After exhausting all means of suicide, they discover a foolproof way to end it all.

The Barong Tagalog is a Filipino symbol of celebration and hope. When it is old, it is frequently kept in the cabinets of many Filipino families. Maricel Amora revives these barongs and transforms them into another Filipino emblem of joy and optimism—the parol.

A gay son imagines the laundry as a colorful world of adorable little fishes while sorting his dirty clothes with his mother. But in his imagination, a sea witch traps him in a bubble, where he feels undesirable, unacceptable, and unbecoming.

Jake (Kyle Ferrer) unexpectedly goes on a little trip with his Best friends, Trina (Catherine Lainez), Sai (Michelle Dela Cruz) and Joaquin (Lean Zamora) a week after the last day of college. The day turns out to be more than just fun and adventure as it led them to question what lies ahead after college.

A daydreaming man is haunted by the memories of his past that leaves him missing the ride of the passenger vehicles that come by, in which will take him to his awaited destination.

A young and naive manananggal gets captured and berated by her mother manananggal for having a relationship with a mortal man; a grave offense to their kind. Because of this she now has to choose between love for family or the only person that taught her how to truly love.

An online reunion of ex-student activists turns into a guilt-ridden confrontation as they learn of their comrade, recently red-tagged and missing in action.

The documentary is about terno artisans, focusing on Filipino traditional clothing, and why Filipinos nowadays are forgetting it. The 25-minute film will show how the people do not have enough resources of information about traditional clothing, the process of how it is made, and when do we really use it. The film’s goal is to inform every Filipino how terno is made and let everyone know that we can wear it every day like the good old days. If we don’t value the importance of it, eventually, we will all forget the real purpose of the terno and the Barong Tagalog that symbolizes us as Filipinos.

Short film by Rea Abalos.

Experimental essay film.

A reimagination of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's iconic short film for Venezia 70 - Future Reloaded (2013).

Decaying handwritten letters, photos, objects and spaces— of all the traces that were left, rekindling and remembering mundane things after a death of a loved one, just to make us feel that they are still in this realm. To all the people who were left behind and to the butterflies of who passed away.

Jared, being the brightest student in the class, struggles to live up to expectations set upon him by his family and the people around him. Crushed by the weight of his own failures, pressures, and disappointments, Jared resorts to a life of vices and degeneracy getting consumed in the life of nicotine, alcohol, and narcotic abuse and addiction.

Margarit pays a fine and Rebeca searches for her missing water bottle.

Jax de Jesus, a 27 year old screenwriter, believes that it’s the only thing that she is holding on to. When she experiences a great writer’s block, she meets Kei Suarez, a 29 year old architect who is renovating their ancestral manor in the mountain city. Having a mutual admiration and bond in their first encounter, Kei invites Jax for at least one week's staycation on their manor to refresh her mind to be inspired again in writing. As the two spend their time together, a series of unexplained encounters, mysterious events, and unimaginable occurrences begin transpiring inside the halls and beneath the walls of the manor, leading them to weigh their consciousness and define the boundary between reality and illusion, truth and lies, good and evil.

After the devastating holiday flood last year, two children from the municipality of Aloram share their experiences before, during, and after the disaster and explain the changes around their locality.

A single incident caused two people to miss their bus and end up winding around the city of Tangub. They enjoyed each other's company and had a deep conversation about their lives. A spark flies and butterflies flutter, but not until both of them say their names.

When a young boy's trust in digital media leads him to believe in anti-vaccination propaganda, his relationship with his older brother is put to the test in this short film about the negative effects of social media misinformation.

Andrew's first shift at the convenience store can be his last night alive as visitors from a nearby funeral home go there to "Pagpag" or drive away spirits. Unknown to him, those restless spirits are all stuck with him in the convenience store.

Chloe and Marcus lost their daughter, Daphne, in an accident. To move on, Chloe resolves to art; while Marcus treats their daughter's favorite doll as Daphne. At first, Chloe believes her husband is crazy, but things turn eerie when the doll starts to show signs of life.

At a young age, Paolo vowed to help his blind mother, Tess, raise their family. Paolo became unstoppable and steadily climbed up the corporate ladder, until his eyes started to blur. In 2013, he was diagnosed with optic atrophy. Depressed by the criticism, he chose to leave his work and return to Baguio with his family. How did Paolo rise above this situation?

Speaking through filters. Filters created by a greater force that is threatened by the very people they swore to serve. Filtering what they allow us to see and hear, and blocking out things that speak the greater truth. The illusion of having freedom, where in reality we only have freedom to say what we are told to say. The illusion is that what we see and what we consume is unfiltered, but if truth be told while we continue to consume these things, we are slowly being gutted without us even knowing. What we see is not always what it seems.

Rodolfo Fuentes was just an innocent man who gets the blame for a gruesome murder. It is only when he is placed behind bars that he bares his more violent nature.

The Palanca Award-winning musical 1896, is PETA’s thundering musical production and first and only sung-through musical. Written by Charley dela Paz with music by Lucien Letaba, the musical was staged in the run-up to the Philippine centennial celebrations in 1998 and rerun a number of times after, starred Ariel Rivera as Emilio Jacinto, Rody Vera as Andres Bonifacio, and Bodjie Pascua/Lionel Guico as Emilio Aguinaldo and Noel Cabangon as Jose Rizal. It was, in the words of political commentator Manuel L. Quezon III, “the highlight of the Centennial celebrations and a musical I wish would be constantly performed.” 1896 is directed by theater stalwart, the late Soxie Topacio.

A short poem about healing after a traumatic event in the narrator's life.

Two thieves hatch a plan to steal the allegedly eight million peso cash that one of their member happen to score.

Beyond the elections, we now tell the story & relive the moments of how Rosas helped bring people together —-to hope together.

Ara Mina plays a woman who romances a ghost. One who’s trapped in the mystery locked beneath the patter of rain on a cold night. That's when she falls in love with another, a man, not the earth-bound spirit that has given her taste of carnal schooling, all jilted hell breaks loose.

Mia is exhausted and just simply wants to take a break, when something suddenly caught her attention. Mia goes on multiple attempts to figure out what it was, only to find herself back from the start, forcing her to face the ghost from the past.

A young woman reports a robbery. As the homeless boy gets confronted for his crime, we get a glimpse of how he, too, is a victim of society.

Judith is a BA Broadcasting Stud amidst the Pandemic, while recording her video — she realized the perils of situation and unfold realities of life.

A Black Beret entry by Niño Batac in partial fulfillment for their directing class under John Dalog Torres.

A 1979 drama-romance film directed by Emmanuel Borlaza. Starring Vilma Santos, Edu Manzano, and Mercy Oria.

Ded or Alayb: Directed by Warlito M. Teodoro. With Nora Aunor, Nova Villa, Rudy Fernandez, Arnold Mendoza. With an all-star cast.

Kontra Bandido is a 1986 Filipino action comedy film co-written and directed by J. Erastheo Navoa and starring Ramon Zamora, Rey Malonzo, Paquito Diaz, Bernardo Bernardo, Janice Jurado, Lito Pastrana, Max Alvarado, Arlene Muhlach, and Niño Muhlach.