Discoveries from Philippines World Cinema

A woman goes through the stages of grief in a dystopian, monochromatic world.

A nurse assures her anxious mother in their video call that everything at work is fine. But beyond the screen, a lot is left unsaid.

When a cross was found mysteriously floating in the sea, the lives of a small coastal community is changed.

A short film stitched together from found footage, clandestine voice recordings, and sit-down interviews from a mysteriously abandoned documentary about an unidentified corpse found at the apartment of a man who claims to be a police informant.

Nadia runs a family flower shop with her daughter Jasmin, a young nurse who is faced with the decision to work abroad to seek greener pastures. Their relationship blooms when they confront each other about what their hearts truly want.

A handicapped Joe visits his parents’ tomb before heading to the polling center to cast a life-changing vote for their city.

This is the account of a Japanese man who lived in the Philippines for a while before returning to Japan. Despite the fact that he is separated into two distinct times, he has many loose ends and regrets in his past that he is attempting to resolve in his present. Is he able to connect the dots from his history to his present?

A global health crisis has created a scarcity of basic needs, affecting the people of a small snack-loving community, some more than others.

A documentary on the filmmaker’s reflection on the Bangsamoro conflict using his grandfather’s house as a metaphor for his people’s longing for peace in their homeland.

A vague dream gives former lovers a final chance to reconnect. The man has turned into a hybrid zombie, the woman gets a chance to speak her thoughts, and they both face the second to the final stage of their lost relationship.

A simple fisherman venture into the polluted sea in the hope to catch something for his family. But instead of fish, he ends up catching floating junk. Frustrated and anxious, the fisherman desperately descends into the deep blue, vicious sea, with high hopes completely unaware of the cruel uncertainty that’s in store for the future.

It is the year 2020, it is Joi’s last few months in Cebu. Her father, an engineer working on quarantine centers in Leyte, converses with her throughout the months.

A young girl's visions grip a family's life as they deal with poverty, the pandemic, and the mysterious.

A documentary that provides a critical glimpse into a day in the life of Monica Tanglao, a young Aeta student who tirelessly aspires to finish her schooling amidst the multitude of challenges that directly and indirectly violate her and her community’s basic rights, especially her right to education.

A couple celebrates their anniversary in a Discord call. They began daydreaming about their plans and ambitions, and as things became harmoniously gripping, one of them sheds tears and unfolds an unexpected truth.

Told through episodes, the filmmaker describes the places where they used to go with their late grandfather. As they revisit these places, they notice that the lands are no longer the same.

A nursing dropout turned coconut farmer finds an opportunity to seek revenge on his terminally-ill faith-healer father

Mikey's love for cacti is put to the test when he encounters an equally persistent online buyer, Mandy, over a rare cacti. Little did he know that this chance encounter will usher the start of brighter days ahead.

A story of a young man who doesn't believe in the coronavirus that is spreading.

An old man trying to recall where to find the biggest and most precious treasure.

Gentle music fills the sad, empty room of a frustrated musician minda, Minda. But as she plays the piano keys, she becomes weak not because of the melody but because of sorrow and loneliness.

Dolor went to seek the help of a Sorhuano in Barangay Old Sagay when her brother-in-law started acting weird after his return from military duty.

With the struggles they encountered in the past, Maria and Ton-Ton put their generous hearts on the line for each other—for their passion for work, and the love that they cannot ignore.

As one of the fastest growing cities in Cavite, in terms of both industry and population, Imus is faced with the Herculean task of the sustainability of its economy. The documentary dives head first into the lives of the people that live in Imus as it uncovers whether the city truly has a chance at viable future.

A teenage girl found a broken mirror in the forest and discovered the one thing she had been escaping from.

Ahmad and Abdul is story of two young men who happened to be best friends. They both dream for a peaceful and safer community. Their friendship and principles have been tested when their individual family go against each other because of Rido (Clan Feud). It is a question of sincerity, patience and true friendship after all challenges they’ve gone through. Will Ahmad and Abdul’s friendship and love with each other prevail till the end?

A COVID-19 patient embarks on the hike of his life.

In her pursuit for connection, a waitress matches with three toxic males on a dating app and decides to entertain all of them at the same time in the middle of her work shift.

After watching a woman cry on television, an emotionless man finds a naked guy that looks exactly like him in his room. The doppelganger guides the man in his peregrination of confronting his identity and emotions.

Trunks are the parts of trees that we relate to on a face-to-face basis. In Little India, human trunks have sprouted out of concrete.

A delivery boy encounters a strange customer that will change his seemingly normal night of working into something else.

A man finds his fate in the path of a certain church when a pastor convinced him to join their gathering.

A private eye faces existential ennui in a world he can no longer catch sight of.

A depiction between a wrong doer and the authorities with questionable characters. A moral question arises when a Maguindanawon housewife, Nhorsida whose hardpressed life forced her to peddle drugs was arrested with his innocent husband by the police. The couple while simply walking along a busy street but on the way to deliver the illegal substance is suddenly man-handled by the police. Despite the absence of a buy bust operation, the police claims and makes up a story of a drug trade. Reports in the news declare the couple having been arrested through a buy-bust operation, when no buy-bust took place. They then divide the supposed fee of Nhorsida for running drugs for Amira, like spoils of war and leave only a small portion to be declared as marked money.

A love story between two young men, separated after one of them contracted a highly stigmatized disease. Years later, the guy who abandoned his former lover due to that illness comes back in need of love and acceptance, which he failed to provide in their relationship before.

A family witnesses the transformation of their garbage into a monster.

Set in a small provincial town, the story centers on two young women named Jo-an and Sabel. Jo-an is known for winning different local beauty pageants. She is the epitome of an innocent and beautiful young woman. Sabel is a mat weaver’s daughter. A free-spirited eighteen-year old who dreams to be free from certain societal constraints. Their last encounter together before Sabel leaves home urges Jo-an to make a life-changing decision.

An expression of time and memories.

A young couple's life in a coastal town is disrupted when the landlord's grandchild goes missing, presumed to have been taken by a malignant sea spirit.

A filmmaker directs the dreams of a woman, farmer, kid, water buffalo and his own dream.

Set in the majestic rice terraces, Haw-Ang (English title: Before Harvest) is an indie film advocating children's right to quality education, empowerment of women, and welfare of our indigenous countrymen. It tells the story of Sister Adel, a light-hearted young nun who goes to a farming village in Ifugao to teach catechism and eventually build a schoolhouse. As she breaks the traditions of the tribe, she makes a big difference in the little lives of its people, especially that of Dacmay, a seven-year-old rowdy girl in search of her lost mother's love. At the same time, Sister Adel finally discovers her real mission in life. This is a poignant story of friendship and love that transcends age, culture, and belief. A tale that is at times comic and inevitably tragic, this is a film about being a woman, and more importantly, being human. It all begins at the time of preparing rice paddies for planting, in that season of hopes and dreams called "haw-ang.

A transgender senior who longs to join a beauty contest makes an unlikely connection with an aspiring beauty queen, and the two go on an escapade in search of their dreams.

The struggle of a young woman led her to a decision she thought could change everything.

Jess, a young Filipino boy fueled by the words of the Philippine President, tries to fulfill his dream of becoming a policeman on his birthday.

On their third month as a couple, Matty and Lawrence decide to test their relationship by inviting Matty’s former lover, Borg, a law graduate preparing for the bar exams, for dinner. But Borg arrives with his new lover Andrei. Midway into Matty’s sumptuous dinner, the new pairs start a game of one-upmanship. One couple will embark on an Asian cruise; the other has tickets for Beyonce’s concert. This briskly escalates into a confrontation between former lovers Matty and Borg, each one throwing accusations at the other.

After witnessing an awkward fight between her writer and his girlfriend, a comic strip illustrator decides to tell him what is plaguing his relationships with other girls. The conversation explodes into a discussion on relationships, social norms, their history, and their possible future, and it becomes increasingly clearer that the trajectory of their career and friendship are on the line.

Set in the Philippines during World War II, a young woman struggles to find herself after losing her father.

An unedited blur of random images from a day in a life of Jesus Corazon, the serial rapist-killer of Manila who collects women's hearts in glass jars. Mixed with snuff & other found footage. Accompanied by a non-sequitur deluge of distorted guitar, a synthetic piano orchestra, drum&bass, and abstract spokenword poetry.

A child who longs for a childhood memories juggles on dirtying her hands to provide for her family who is a victim of post pandemic.

This is a story of a father who is part of the ukbu or HUKBALAHAP (Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon), a group who fights the Japanese, to attain democracy. The father wants to change the wrong things he had done from the past. That is why he, together with his son, escapes from the group, and takes care of a Japanese captive. The father becomes hospitable to the Japanese by cooking and feeding him original buru, an authentic Kapampangan food. He also teaches his son how to cook and to always choose the right thing.

This is a story of a widowed mother who has breast cancer and her struggles with her son who is mentally challenged.

A female celebrity wannabe attends her first casting audition. With her supposed talent handler, she will experience physical and psychological abuse, that has been lurking around in the shadows of show business.

Kulas regales his new classmates with stories of his happy family only to return home to an absent father and uncaring mother - why does Kulas refuse to recognize his reality?

Stuck in pandemic, a girl floods herself with imagination as she narrates a poem in isolation.

As the education system adapts to a new mode of learning in response to the global pandemic, a desperate college student resorts to illegal means to fund his education. But on his first night on the job, what he thought was an easy way out challenged his moral principles.

In such confining times, one must find his way to escape from the unwelcoming spaces he is in.

A young woman is tormented by the burden of isolation, her emotions treading between reality and the realms of the mind. Troubled, she is desperate for any help, an escape. She uses her predicament to entrap her deliverers into their own demise.

Miggy, a videographer who just lost a loved-one, tries to recollect their memories by creating a video about that person. But his hesitance and apparent lack of definition about 'love' brings him to Alexandra, a newfound strange friend from the internet.

An old lady struggles to navigate through dreams and reality in a jeepney ride to her hometown.