Kabisera (2013)

Esoterica: Manila

Drawing from his personal adventures, film director, Elwood Perez veers away from standard-issue plot conventions in this paradoxically moral tale of a young man en route to becoming a creative artist.

Hindi Sila Tatanda

A group of friends, prompted by the frequent sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects or U.F.O.'s in Zambales in the mid-nineties, decide to take a trip to the province to retrace the legend of the sightings. They then befriend a local, who they presume is their age group, not knowing exactly who or what he is. Little do they know that the local will become the spark that would threaten to ruin the friendship that has already been strained with many things that have been left unsaid.

Violator

Manila is besieged by the worst typhoon to hit the country. Talk of the world coming to an end hangs in the air. And five men find themselves stranded inside a police station with a prisoner who may o may not be the devil. It's going to be a long night.

Red

Red, a shy orphan who spent most of his childhood in a girly bar, grew up to be the town's best fixer. When a rich kid was gunned down in a drug bust that went wrong, Red was hired by Art, a spoiled socialite, to fix the mess.

Grandma Loleng

A young woman goes back to her province in the countryside where she gets to once again meet her Grandmother Loleng - a distant relative and a senile parol (Christmas lantern) artisan. Together, they will explore Grandma Loleng’s landscape of memories, only to unearth her innermost secrets and wartime experiences. It is about memory and forgetting, both in the context of the personal and of the national consciousness.

AWOL

An expert Army sniper armed with his tactical knowledge and deadly skills, goes on a quest to protect his family from the man who masterminded the attempt on his life and his loved ones.

Bar Boys

The misadventures of three young men who try their luck in the college of law. As their friendship, families, relationships and convictions are brought to breaking point, they must keep their heads and emotions together as they prepare for the big day.

Shake, Rattle & Roll II

Three terrifying tales follow a young groom in Baguio for his honeymoon is possessed by a homicidal spirit when he discovers a cursed ring and decides to wear it; in the eerie halls of a mysterious hospital, a doctor practices voodoo and dead bodies wander in the night; and a student who learns, while a guest at a town fiesta in a remote province, that the locals' hospitable ways leave her clueless about a mysterious nightly ritual.

Shake, Rattle & Roll IV

Three unrelated stories of horror include a substitute teacher who preys on a small school; neighborhood children being abducted by a tree-dwelling monster; and a group of Manila residents plagued by attacks from a Manananggal.

Shake, Rattle & Roll V

Three tales of unbridled terror follow a couple vacation on a secluded island where strange forces are at work to keep them there; a young woman whose boyfriend is ill meets a handsome young man in the woods who seems to exhibit magical powers that can cure her sick friend, on the condition that she stay with him forever; and a family who move into a new apartment, unaware of a supernatural tragedy that occurred there.

A Tale of Filipino Violence

With the imminent death of his autocratic grandfather, coinciding with the burgeoning oppressive regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Servando Monzon III, inheritor of the hacienda and businesses of his powerful clan, agonises on becoming the new feudal lord and capitulating with Marcos’ designs to control the Philippines. Aware of his clan’s long history of violence, Monzon knows the very violent history of his county and foresees a very violent future with the dictatorship.

Kita Kita

Lea is a tour guide in Japan who suffered from temporary blindness and if not cured in a few weeks could be permanent. Tonyo who lives right across from Lea is persistent and determined to be her friend. They then become closer and Lea has seen the true character of Tonyo.

The Stepmother

The loving and nurturing Mariel marries Edward after his first wife abandons him and their three children. Mariel strives to win the acceptance and affection of her new stepchildren, even as she tries to define her role in the family.

Bloody Crayons

A group of friends goes to an island for a short film project when they are attacked by a mysterious killer after playing a game of bloody crayons.

The Childe

Han, a Filipino-Korean boxer hits the final punch against his opponent at an illegal game and returns home with a few dollars to pay for his mother's surgery.

Uhaw

Set in 2040, Lee, a 15-year-old boy, thirsts for love and affection as he goes through an existential crisis.

Kiko, the Boxer

Kiko, an 11-year-old boy left aimlessly alone with his nanny after the recent death of his mother, rekindles a long lost relationship with his father in an attempt to find a new lease on life.

Respect

Hendrix dreams of hip-hop greatness, but he’s spiraling down a rabbit-hole of crime and poverty until he meets Doc, an old poet still haunted by his martial law past. Can they turn each other’s lives around before they’re swallowed by their circumstance?

The Family That Doesn't Weep

Only the famous family that doesn't weep can help reunite a desperate woman with her own.

Senior Year

A high school movie featuring a mix of real students and professional actors that deals with the experience of finding one's identity in a country that barely has one.

Yesterday's Promise

Three strong-willed sisters face tough choices.

Noli Me Tángere

Based on the revolutionary novel by Jose Rizal, the story follows Crisostomo Ibarra, a young Filipino man who returned from his studies in Europe, who discovered that his father was falsely imprisoned and abused by the Spanish friars, including Padre Damaso. While he is making plans to uplift the lives of his fellow countrymen, he faced resistance from the Spanish colonial government.

Moments in a Stolen Dream

A coming-of-age story of college student Joey, who's lost all sense of direction. His only inspiration is music, but he is yet to finish writing a song. His life changes when he meets Ana and his world is suddenly turned upside-down.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Jane wakes up a year after a traumatic incident which coincidentally happened on her birthday. As she goes through her day preparing for her 19th birthday celebration, she gets constant flashbacks of the incident. The day ends with her confronting her past with the hopes of finding justice and relief.

Do Re Mi

Three girls divided by personalities, cultural backgrounds and principles have one thing in common, their love for music.

Blink

An indie film about greed and corruption among small-time criminals in the streets of Manila starring GMA contract artist Sherwin Ordonez in his first mature role.

Enter the Ninja

A newly trained ninja warrior journeys to the Philippines, where he must defend his former war comrade's property against a determined adversary.

They Were Expendable

After a demonstration of new PT boats, navy brass are still unconvinced of their viability in combat, leaving Lt. "Rusty" Ryan frustrated. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Ryan and his buddy Lt. Brickley are told they can finally take their squadron into battle. The PT boats quickly prove their worth, successfully shooting down Japanese planes, relaying messages between islands, and picking off a multitude of enemy ships.

A Love Story

Ian Montes is a picture of success. Despite being a son of a shipping tycoon, Ian refused to just ride in his father's empire. He built his own real estate company and earned his first million at a very young age. He never looked back since then. Driven by his ambition to become better, if not as good as his father, Ian managed to make it on his own. But behind all the glory is a man yearning for love and recognition.

Back to Bataan

An Army colonel leads a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.

Filipinas

Florencia, the matriarch of the Filipinas family, is in poor health, and Yolanda, the eldest of the Filipinas children, finds herself in the unenviable position of keeping her bickering family from disintegration. As the tension rises, Yolanda seeks refuge in a local church. She is critically injured trying to break up a nasty fight between brothers Emman and Samuel, forcing her family to make a life-changing decision.

Ilusyon

Set in Philippine post-American colonialist era, where the American influence was still apparent, Ilusyon tells the story of Miguel, a young man from the countryside, who decides to visit his father, Pablo, a Modernist painter in Manila. Upon his arrival, he discovers that his father has decided to leave for the province but he opted to stay in Manila for a vacation. One day, he meets Stella, a nude model originally scheduled to pose for Miguel's father. Struck by her beauty, Miguel does the unthinkable - he pretends to be his father the painter. Developing a relationship based on a lie, things turn for the worse as Stella begets a strange skin disease that turns off Miguel. Surrounded by strange characters - a talking cow, a talkative mailman and a nosy landlady - Miguel is driven into a frenzy realization about beauty, lust, love and being true to oneself. An ambiguous ending underlines the surreal tone of the film.

Tinik sa Dibdib

Lando is married to Lorna. He took on the huge responsibility of taking care of his widowed aunt Trixia and her two children, the youngest being a moron. Because of his obligations to his aunt's family, his relationship with his wife Lorna has not been as happy and ideal as they would have liked. Aside from being needy and dependent on Lando, Trixia has been very close to Lando, a fact that is very much seen by Lorna. A deep dark secret will be eventually revealed to Lorna: that Lando and Trixia is involved romantically and that Trixia's youngest child is Lando's. In the end, Lorna will be slowly relieved of the thorns that has been weighing down on her chest.

Neomanila

Toto, a teenage orphan, is recruited by a notorious death squad. Irma, the groups leader, soon becomes a maternal figure to the young boy. As the two form a familial bond, their loyalties will be put to the test when one of their targets turns out to be a familiar face.

Bes and the Beshies

It tells the story of four friends: a single mom hoping to complete her family, a martyr wife who will do anything to keep her family from falling apart, a mistress who is desperate to have her own family, and a young woman who fully supports them.

Love You to the Stars and Back

A girl named Mika decides to go on a road trip to look for aliens. During her trip, she accidentally bumps into Caloy whom she gives a free ride to until he reaches his destination. Mika then finds out that Caloy has cancer but despite it, he has learned to accept his fate. Both embark on a journey filled with adventures and misadventures not knowing they would fall in love with each other along the way.

Double Barrel

A young couple who are so poor that they have to work as hired killers.

Pedro Calungsod: Batang Martir

Pedro Calungsod, a young Filipino man, leaves his Visayan native roots to join the Spanish Jesuit priest Fr. Diego de San Vitores in his mission to the Marianas Islands (Guam) in 1668. The San Diego Mission arrives in the Marianas where the young Pedro, a trained catechist and mission assistant, begins work for Fr. Diego de San Vitores in baptizing the Chamorro natives, preaching the holy gospel and spreading the good news of salvation through the Christian faith amidst paganism, doubt and disbelief. Despite the longing for his father and the threats to their lives, even at the peril of death, Pedro and Fr. Diego continued their missionary work. They roamed the dangerous islands and baptized many more natives and continued to enlighten them about Christianity.

Manila Death Squad

An ambitious journalist challenges the leader of a violent vigilante group to a high-stakes drinking game that may score her a scoop or a bullet to the head.