Discoveries from Philippines World Cinema

In the eerie halls of a mysterious hospital, doctors practice voodoo and dead bodies wander in the night.

This musical-drama revolves around a widower who lived in the US with his only daughter. They returned to the Philippines, where his late wife grew up.

A young man was prohibited by his mother to join a Combo(band) in fear of him being negatively influenced. The mother sends him to the province but as he travels he meets a bald man.

When their parents die, sisters Aurora and Claudia are separated at a young age. Claudia is renamed Betty by a rich couple, and Aurora acts as the mother of their baby sister Amalia. Destiny will guide them to meet again but with hardships during the journey. Will they find their way to see each other again and reunite?

One of Pancho Magalona and Tita Duran's most beloved films.

Gabriel "Flash" Elorde was born to a poor farmer's family in the town of Bogo, Cebu on March 25, 1935, the youngest of the 16 children. Renowned for his boxing skills, speed and ability to slip punches, the famed southpaw became an oriental champion at all weights from bantamweight to lightweight. To this day, Elorde holds the junior lightweight division for the longest title reign of nearly seven-and-a-half years, defending the crown he won with a spectacular 7th round knockout of Harold Gomes before 26,000 screaming fans at the inauguration of the Araneta Coliseum on March 16, 1960, 10 times against the top contenders. Elorde was the first Asian inducted into the New York-based International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993 and was also enshrined in the World Boxing Hall of Fame. With his skills and humility both inside and outside the ring, "Flash" Elorde will always remain a tribute to the sport. He was a quintessential Filipino who "feared no man but was humble before all men."

Movie With Kat Santos

Three Fifty Year old widowers pursue young women

"Faith, Love, Time, and Dr. Lazaro," "Tata Selo," and "Sandaang Damit;" three short stories written by three multi-awarded Filipino fiction writers, Gregorio Brillantes, Rogelio Sicat, and Fanny Garcia, transformed into three short films.

As clouds begin to roll, we see the afternoon life of a busy city. Cars jam the streets, as people make squares of the side streets they walk on. People queue in line as they try to board the city train. This is Sam’s picture of his daily route to the university. He is a young filmmaker, who in his daily commute, picks up his girlfriend Isa from the train station before heading to school together.

In Manila, a solitary man from a far-away province lives in poverty. The only thing he has is a camera, and he stays at churches hoping people will hire him to take their photographs. During one day, he has three encounters that change his life: the first, with a smooth-talking young man who's standing by the church door who berates him for wasting his life in church, the second with a boy who offers to take his picture, and the third with a Mercedes-driving man who's been stuck in traffic and has no patience left. Is there any deliverance from the soullessness of the city?

Two of the country's top dramatic actors engage in a dramatic showdown as mother and daughter constantly caught in a love/hate relationship.

Ramon Zamora trades in his usual cheap yuks for a more restrained and almost mythic performance in this uniquely Pinoy tale of death and retribution.

The love-hate relationship between mother and son intensifies when the latter decides not to pursue college education in Manila after suffering from separation anxiety.

On the eve of the 2010 Miss Universe pageant, an unwelcomed guest enters into the drama of three gay friends.

A story about a rich heiress, Estella, who disguises as a lowly washerwoman in order to find out for herself the true meaning of love that she found in Berting.

Dreaming to be released from her miserable life of poverty, Aida, a waitress, abandons her bedridden father, her moralistic mother, her jobless brother and her good-for-nothing sister to live-in with her boyfriend Carding, whom she believes could give her salvation. But her plan only gives her more misfortunes. Carding gets jailed for drug peddling. Aida opts for an abortion. She later lives with a wealthy man to feul her ambition. Carding is released from prison and finds out about his wife's illicit affair.

Cris is a nerd college student who is at peace with his sexuality and yet maintains his virginity. His best friend, Chamyto, on the other hand, is determined to get every campus hunk that he can afford to validate himself. When three gorgeous hunks start a contest to befriend a loser for a week, both Chamyto and Cris become easy targets.

Caught in the evil schemes of a politician, David decides that loyalty to an evil boss is not the way to go. His decision to break away leads him to Panyang, another victim of Cong. Leon Manalo.

Rescued as a young boy, Antero Castro ambitious in bringing peace and order in a small town as a soldier.

Neighborhood buddies with their respective jobs that includes sexual favors as side dish.

The launching film of Akemi Roces

Teenage romance about a girl from a wealthy family adopted by a man during the height of danger.

Still grieving from the death of her mother, young Abigail finds a half-buried ragged doll on a burial mound in the cemetery. Her older sister, Anna, begins to experience strange occurrences in their household upon bringing the doll home. Believing it was her "Mama Doll", Abigail refuses to throw it away.

A pre-war film described as "soul-stirring drama" starring Leopoldo Salcedo.

An unrequited love story between a free-spirited woman who openly expresses her affection to a younger shy woman who, in turn, struggles with her own feelings.

A music documentary on MNL48, a franchise of the highly successful Japanese idol group, AKB48. The film looks into the girls as they perform within a music subculture that tries to get a foothold in a market of an overtly critical audience.

"May and Nila" is a film that delves into love, identity, and reincarnation as May, a butch lesbian delivery girl, and Nila, a talented seamstress, connect and feel a deep bond. Their intertwined story takes us from the present day to the Japanese invasion in the Philippines, where we discover their past lives as Oryang and Maria Clara, two individuals who faced different struggles but shared an enduring love.

Beginning at the break of dawn and ending the next morning, the story, set around a rugged city intersection, follows the path of a marked one-thousand-peso bill as it transfers from one character to another, returning to its originator in the end, blood-tainted. The money leads us to each of the five offbeat characters, all in desperate need of their soul's redemption: a disillusioned tabloid reporter planning to commit suicide in a motel, a nightclub dancer con prostitute who has avowed to give her kid sister a better life, a fallen henchman resurfacing to score big time, a chronic runaway teenage girl held captive as sex slave by a cop, and a long-suffering son bearing a sadomasochistic relationship with his brutish, half-paralyzed father who behaves like a mad dictator in his wheelchair.

Three narratives of love transpire in a struggling thrift store. Its Caretaker finds love with a mannequin. The Fish finds comfort with the Caretaker. And the Owner yearns for her dead husband.

Jay is the name of the two protagonists in the film, one is living, the other dead. The living Jay is producing a documentary of the dead Jay, a gay teacher who was brutally killed. As Jay recreates and examines the life of his subject, his own life is affected when he unravels his subject's hidden life and secret love.

For over forty years, Manong Edwin has scrubbed, swept, and served in the Malacañang of the North - witnessing the rise, fall, and return of the Marcos dynasty. In the quiet repetition of his labor lies a searing reflection of the Filipino worker: loyal yet forgotten, diligent yet dispensable, ever-present yet erased.

Raymond, a deaf working student aspires to become a school paper photographer. Set in 2009, Raymond refuses to let his disability prevent him from being a voice.

A ray of Hope and Positivity, in the vast of Uncertainty.

This dramatic anthology of true-to-life stories of love and domestic problems based on letters sent by to the TV drama program hosted by Helen Vela who gives advice to troubled viewers.

The story is about a teenage boy living in the Philippines who is being persuaded by his family to go to the U.S. to live a better life but continues to be caught in a web of bad choices. The plot is close to my heart because it tells the story of so many of my friends and family living there now and the struggles they face with poverty, drugs, and violence.

Three brothers, Pidiong, Manoy and Tinggoy, who live in a small town in the province, were lucky enough to receive a scholarship program from ASO (Agricultural School of the Orient). Hopeful that this could be the start of their family's better future, Pidiong, Manoy, and Tinggoy went to the city only to find out that the school they'll be going to is not at all what they had expected.

A story about triplets that were given to different families when they were just babies.

Tala, accustomed to walking 2.75 kilometers to school daily, opts for walking despite ride offers. When Mr. De Guzman unexpectedly joins her, they forge an unexpected but familiar bond. How far can she go in that 2.75-kilometer walk?

A cellphone collector a.k.a. snatcher steals a drug dealer's phone and the delivery that eventually leads into a confrontation with the syndicate's angry boss who wants his money.

A father and seaman named Antonio is forced into retirement after learning he can never board a ship again. The film follows his struggle to reacquaint himself with the family he has long forgotten.

Hee-Man grew up as an ordinary boy guided by Dila, not knowing he's a prince. As he starts looking for his parents, he meets Bato, who tells him his mission is to defend the people against the black forces of Black Tengko.

In a typical playground, life plays a game of irony when two 8-year old kids are on a seesaw. One is a rather hefty child from a well-to-do family who is stuck at the bottom, whereas a lanky child brought up in poverty is on top. Rich kid is looking up to the poor boy, who in turn, is looking down on him. How will the rich kid reverse their positions? The answer to that question will make one realize that friendship is more valuable than money, while the other will discover his true worth as a friend.

A 1985 Mother's Day offering from Regal Films: a comic, musical relief with the wacky trio of Tito, Vic, and Joey, and their spouses and children.

A group of students participate in a "race against time" game which is meant to be a legitimate school activity, but things go south when things start to unravel after mysterious things happen to each participant of this twisted puzzle solving madness.

A 12 year-old boy learns to play traditional Filipino games through a new set of friends, who will show him that life and their games have many things in common.

Middle-aged Manila storeowner Amelita supplements her tiny income by collecting bets for the popular numbers game of jueteng. While looking out for police crackdowns, the masterfully persuasive Amelita cajoles all comers into placing wagers.

True Confessions Evelyn, Myrna & Margie is a 1992 Tagalog-language Crime Drama film. True confessions evelyn, myrna & margie features Dina Bonnevie in the lead role along with an ensemble cast including Gabby Concepcion, Eddie Garcia, Richard Gomez, Ruffa Gutierrez, Maricel Laxa and Hilda Koronel.

The trolley is a rail trolley; it moves by hand power over an old railway and is used as illegal transport by poor people in Manila. The trolley brings the film into contact with the trolley driver and his customers, and through that, it shows a cross-section of society, or better the poor part of society.