Esoterica: Manila (2014)

Above the Clouds

A 15-year-old boy goes on a hiking trip with his estranged grandfather, and overcomes the grief of losing his parents on a mountain above the clouds.

Working Girls

Women cope with various problems while earning a living in the city.

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.

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.

Lorna

Lorna is sixty year old woman who is constantly searching for the right man, having failed at so many relationships. Having lived close to a lifetime alone, she decides to take another stab at moving on and more importantly, love.

Some Nights I Feel Like Walking

A rich teenager runs away from home and joins a group of street hustlers who go on a road trip to fulfill the final wish of their dead friend.

Nowhere

In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.

Beautiful Mystery

Shinohara, a young bodybuilder, joins a para-military sect in northern Japan. His instructor, Takizawa, takes a liking to the new recruit. After an early “special” training session the two develop a lasting and loving relationship.

Love, Simon

Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it's a little more complicated. He hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online.

Gentleman Spa

Hao, a chubby gay man, works as a janitor at a gay spa. For him, romantic relationships are an unreachable dream. One day, an attractive customer, Kai, walks into the place, and Hao has the opportunity to massage him.

Northern Lights: A Journey to Love

A young boy travels to Alaska to visit his estranged father at the same time as a young woman also travels to Alaska to find her estranged mother.

Tropical Malady

The passionate relationship between two men with unusual consequences. The film is divided in two parts. The first half charts the modest attraction between two men in the sunny, relaxing countryside and the second half charts the confusion and terror of an unknown menace lurking deep within the jungle shadows.

Idiot Fish

On the road to vacation, Jimmy and Guillaume put their relationship back into play. Jimmy becomes a lost hitchhiker, Guillaume a lonely driver. They will play not to know each other anymore, play to meet and seduce each other again. Until a third player joins the game.

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.

Whether the Weather Is Fine

Against the backdrop of the Typhoon Yolanda, a mother and her son struggle for survival and deal with absurdity of fate, sustained by the hope that they carry, and what is lost and gained.

Takumi-kun Series: Pure

Unlike the three previous films, Pure focuses on the relationship between Misu Arata and Shingyouji Kanemitsu , which begins when Shingyouji takes the test to enter Shidou Gakuen . That's when he meets Misu and falls for him. Then we come back to the present where the sempai who admires Misu appears, bringing Shingyouji problems and jealousy.

Air Force

The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.

A Frozen Flower

A historical drama set in the Koryo dynasty and focused on the relationship between a king and his bodyguard.

Sex Drifters

When a young business man tried to open up his relationship to his girlfriend, the other man told him they had broken up and said they were 2 people. Shocked, one day at his workplace he ran into a young man who had been shown a picture of his ex-girlfriend as a new man, and his frustration grew. The next night he met the young man again at a gay bar and confronted him about the robbery, but he had no idea and realized it was his ex-girlfriend's lie. The distance between the two has narrowed, but there is a certain situation with him...

Baconaua

After a turbulent squall in the night, villagers wake up to the astonishing sight of the sea that has turned red.

She's Dating the Gangster

Seventeen-year-old Athena Dizon unwittingly plays a trick on resident heartthrob and bad boy Kenji de los Reyes. All of a sudden, she finds herself pretending to be his girlfriend to make an ex jealous; however, she falls in love with him.

Plus. Minus.

Told in reverse chronological order, an aspiring drag queen creates a world out of desolated motel rooms with the guy he met online.

The Rooftop

High schooler You Cheng fumbles a hookup with Wen Ting, making him panic. To solve this issue, he spies on others, but Jing Hao’s nude shocks him.

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.

Close The Last Door

After being best man at his best friend's (Saitou Toshihisa) wedding, Nagai Atsushi realizes that he might have fallen for him. Nagai, drowning in his sorrows and hatred for the new bride then meets Honda Kenzou, another guest at the wedding. Honda takes care of Nagai when he was dead drunk and now Nagai can't stop thinking of both Honda and Saitou.

Best Sisters Forever

In a heated fight over questions of promiscuity, a terrible misunderstanding leaves two best friends, 'sisters' estranged for many years. A decade later, the two 'sisters' are reunited by a tragic event. The 'sisters' reminisce over the past while talking about the future. Though they are still very fond of each other, both have changed and a palpable tension can be felt over dreams unrealized and disappointments in life. Knowing their days together are numbered, the pair set out on a few adventures hoping to gain lost opportunities and make happy memories. Along the way, they make important discoveries about life, love, each other, friendship, and family. Promises are kept and a long lost dream comes true.

Mermaid's Jade

In a power-hungry Chang’an, a vengeful merman returns to the man who once owned him—this time with a blade, not love.

My Bromance

Golf never wanted a brother. Bank just wanted to be loved. What grew between them changed both boys forever.

Mariquina

A Marikina shoemaker's daughter coming to terms with her grief in the wake of her father's suicide.

The Commitment

Kasal is a slice of life drama of a gay couple whose resolve to stay together is challenged as they attend a wedding. It also is an examination on how a gay couple navigates through the different institutions in Philippine society.

Malvarosa

A poignant story of a family’s struggles in life. It tells of Rosa, who lives in the slums near the railroad tracks, with her mother and five brothers. Her mother wallows in guilt and depression when her drunkard father is run over by a train. Though she is set to marry her fiancé, Rosa chooses to put her family’s needs before her own. Rosa’s brothers also carry their own burdens, except for one, the youngest, Avelino, who helps his sister shoulder the weight of the family’s problems.

(Filipino: In the Name of the Father, Mother, and Children)

In 1970s Mindanao, a man and his family take arms to defend the people against those who would oppress them.

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.

The Family That Doesn't Weep

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

Swinging Blossom

Elderly Gu Si Jun, haunted by memories of a lost love, meets designer Ma Ming Jin—who looks just like the boy from his past—rekindling feelings he thought long buried.

The Poet and the Boy

Trapped in routine, a Jeju poet finds himself drawn to a boy—and to emotions he’s never dared name.

No Law, No Heaven

A man's life in three vignettes as he grapples with identity amidst tradition in Hong Kong's notorious Kowloon Walled City.

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?

Taboo

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

1st Ko si 3rd

The film is about a 65-year old retiree Cory who gets reunited with her 1st love and finally, the supposed date happens 5 decades after they got separated.

K'na, The Dreamweaver

When Kana, a young T'boli woman, becomes a dreamweaver, she has the chance to weave together her village's warring clans. But, will she give up true love to do so?

Oh! My Assistant

Webtoon writer Seon Ho loses his sex drive after creating steamy comics—until he hires Mu Young, a devoted fan. As sparks fly, so do complications in love.

Dagitab

While the marriage of two professors is on the verge of falling apart, the woman is dragged into a scandal involving a young student. On the other hand, the man falls in love with the subject of his research—a deity that appears to him as the ghost of an old flame.

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.

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.

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.