Esoterica: Manila (2014)

Futureless Things

The various faces of youth and people in an enclosed space of a convenience store for 12 hours.

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.

From What Is Before

The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad, and houses are burned. Ferdinand E. Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081, putting the entire country under Martial Law.

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.

Love Stage!!

With a mother and father that are actors, and a rockstar brother, anyone would expect Sena Izumi to eventually enter showbiz himself. However, aside from a commercial for a wedding magazine when he was a child, Izumi has never been in the spotlight; instead, he aims to become a manga artist. But a decade after the shoot, the magazine calls for a 10th anniversary ad, requesting the original child actors for the project. This reunites Izumi with Ryouma Ichijou, now a popular actor who, much to Izumi's shock, has been in love with him ever since their first meeting! However, due to Izumi's feminine appearance, and unisex name, Ryouma believed the boy to be a girl and continues to do so to this day. Izumi's troubles are only just beginning. Based on the hit comedy romance manga Love Stage!! It began serialization in the July 2010. Seven tankōbon volumes was published from May 27, 2011 to November 1, 2016. An anime television series adaptation produced by J.C.Staff aired in 2014.

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.

Takumi-kun Series: The Beauty of Detail

Another school year is starting. Upon meeting up with Gii, Takumi is worried when it turns out Gii has changed, suddenly acting cold and distant. Could their relationship be in danger for real this time?

Takumi-kun Series: And the Spring Breeze Whispers

A 2nd year student is assigned a handsome new roommate at the start of the school year.

Twinless

Two young men meet in a twin support group and form an unlikely friendship.

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.

Happy Merry Ending (Movie)

Seung Jun works as a wedding host and singer. But he is blighted by a range of harrowing issues. He feels like his job is leading him nowhere and has lost his enthusiasm for working. He has also lost his faith in romance, despite the fact that he is surrounded by young couples whenever he performs at a wedding. Meanwhile, Jae Hyun is a pianist. An acquaintance one day lets him know about an opportunity to work as a wedding accompanist alongside Seung Jun. He initially has no intention of taking the job. However, when he sees Seung Jun, he falls for the wedding singer straight away. He takes the job, hoping that it will bring him and Seung Jun together. But while the singer can feel Jae Hyun is interested in him, he is hesitant about letting anyone get close to him. As their paths cross again and again at new wedding ceremonies, Cupid threatens to bring them together. Will they give in to the pull of romance?

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.

Pastor

Pastor Luis Aguila and his family are seemingly tested with their faith. Luis is an ex-convinct who is now the head of his church. Mildred, his wife, tries to hide her secret as she grapples between her family and church duties. Their youngest son Carlo wrestles with growing up and tying up his family together. All of them try to overcome these obstacles but things intensify when Pastor Aguila's daughter, Katrina defies her family when she falls in love with the mysterious Jigo.

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.

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.

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.

Light

Haunted by trauma and trapped in sex work, Light meets Shuo, an undercover cop who offers him shelter. But healing isn’t easy—can Light choose a new path?

I Carry You with Me

An epic love story spanning decades is sparked by a chance encounter between two men in provincial Mexico. Based on a true story, ambition and societal pressure propel an aspiring chef to leave his soulmate and make the treacherous journey to New York, where life will never be the same.

Naked Weapon

A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty pre-teen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadly assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begin to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.

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.

Method

A seasoned actor and a pop star are cast as leads in a gay romantic play. As the actor teaches the pop star method acting, the line between fiction and reality is blurred and they become drawn to each other.

Gaze in Silence

Yun Fei’s twisted curiosity turns critical when Yan Xin’s life is threatened. Will he stay in the shadows—or act?

Ouija

Half-sisters Aileen and Romina, along with first cousins Ruth and Sandra, reunite in Camiguin to bury their grandmother. Accompanied by Sandra's friend, Lucy, the five girls dare to call on the spirits of the dead when they find their old Ouija board from when they were kids. The Ouija board is burned by accident before they are able to finish the ritual, trapping a murderous entity around them. As they begin to realize the terror that they have brought upon themselves, Aileen and Romina's hostile relationship even become more strained, while Lucy's sanity brings a heavy burden on Sandra, and Ruth's boyfriend, Gino, is unknowingly pulled into the danger and horror that await all of them. Confronted by imminent Death, the girls have nowhere to go unless they can identify the spirit and find out where it is buried. It is only by leading the spirit to its burial ground that they will able to release the spirit from the Ouija board and survive its fatal hauntings.

Present Perfect

Following a painful breakup, Toey decides to heal his broken heart in Higashikawa town where he meets Oat, who is on his bachelor finale trip. From stranger to friends, romance spark off between the two..

15

Five troubled teens, abandoned by society and family, form a bond in a world of violence, drugs, and self-destruction, facing harsh realities of modern Singapore.

History of Ha

A puppeteer returns home hoping to settle down but gets his heart broken. Communicating only using his puppet, he decides to go on a journey with a nun, a sex worker and a teenage boy to a remote island where gold has been discovered.

Killer Instinct

For America, the Vietnam War is over. Johnny doesn't see it that way. This Special Forces soldier battles vicious Vietcong, a sadistic Russian advisor and his own peacenik girlfriend as he embarks on a deadly mission behind enemy lines.

Does the Flower Bloom?

While on a work trip, 37-year-old Sakurai meets 19-year-old art student Yoichi in a quiet, charming house—sparking an unexpected connection across generations.

Historiographika Errata

A disillusioned and suicidal Rizal, a cross-dressing Bonifacio gripped with paranoia, an ex-Katipunero who joins the US army to save his own neck, and a widow whose sex-for-food errands lead her to become the first ever Makapili. These are the historical mosaics that will form a singular hypothesis as to why we are like this as a people and up to now still reeling from our damaged culture.

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.

Summer of 85

What do you dream of when you're 16-years-old and in a seaside resort in Normandy in the 1980s? A best friend? A lifelong teen pact? Scooting off on adventures on a boat or a motorbike? Living life at breakneck speed? No. You dream of death. Because you can't get a bigger kick than dying. And that's why you save it till the very end. The summer holidays are just beginning, and this story recounts how Alexis grew into himself.

The Seaside Ballad

Fujimoto receives a sealed letter from Etsuko, the wife of his lover, Yoshio. It was a sudden obituary that Yoshio, who had been unable to contact him after a petty fight a month ago, died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage. At the gay bar they used to go to, they talk about their memories with master Uehara and regular customer Iwamura. Iwamura invites the grieving Fujimoto to a hotel to comfort him. However, she realizes that Fujimoto's affection for Yoshio is deep, so she gives up and breaks up with him.

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.

Pagnanasa

A young travelling salesman Rodel and a young innocent student Aleli. Aleli befriended a mature woman who is expert in love. The lady taught her and lured her to fantasize and to seek the love offered by men. Aleli became curious about the love that this lady is talking about and is out there to find love for herself until she dated Rodel who ended up raping her. After her painful encounter with Rodel, she got addicted to that sexual feeling and affection that he gave to her. This terrible experience made her to crave for more love from Rodel. Is her addiction with making love to Rodel going to stop or will it continue until she becomes a slave to it.

Beneath the Shadow

From coworkers to close friends, Konno and Hiasa drift apart. When Hiasa goes missing, Konno must face what he didn’t say in time.

Driver

When her husband goes missing, a wife asked their driver to help her find him. Whaf happens next folliws an interesting plot involving sex, drama and thrills in this Thai erotic thriller.

Trophy Wife

A woman falls in love with a man, but is wronged by him and his brother. She then tries to exact revenge on him, his brother and his new lover.

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.

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.

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?

Big Bang Love, Juvenile A

An unknown future. A boy confesses to the murder of another in an all-boy juvenile detention facility. More an exercise in style than storytelling, the story follows two detectives trying to uncover the case. Homosexual tension and explosive violence drives the story which delivers some weird and fascinating visuals.

Locker Boys

Lockerboys is all about what boys do when left alone inside the locker/dressing room. Inspired by personal requests from followers of the Queeriosity Projects, Pinoy Indie Film Locker Boys presents some very steamy solo scenes to fulfill a queer young man's fantasy.

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.

The Tune of Our Dreams

Yasu plays guitar on the street every night. A young stranger, Dare, stands in front of him. Yasu instantly feels a faint infatuation with Dare, who expresses a straightforward opinion, and takes him to his apartment, where he has no place to return to. The room was occupied by Yasu's friends Otto and Bohra, a comic duo, and Sekken, who works part-time with Yasu and whose dream is to become a full-time employee. Dare felt comfortable in the atmosphere. Yasu told him to stay as long as he wanted. And soon her feelings for him grew stronger.

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.

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.