Simon Ibarra

Movies

U-Turn
Chief Agustin
A young reporter's investigation into a string of grisly suicides takes a dangerous detour when she follows the clues to a cursed stretch of road.
Culion
In the 1940s, Anna, Doris, and Ditas are patients afflicted with Hansen’s Disease (or widely known as leprosy) who live in Culion at a time when the disease is practically a life sentence. No cure has yet been found, and no one is allowed to leave.
Damaso
A musical film protraying Padre Damaso, Jose Rizal's famous villain in his book 'Noli Me Tangere.
Sorry for the Inconvenience
Joshua , a timid teenager, comes home one night after beaten up by the school's bully. Feeling the urge to avenge himself, he decides to take matters into his own hands. But things don't go as planned. Now, he is left with no choice but to seek help from his policeman father.
The Agony and Fury of Hermano Puli
Decades before the rise of liberalism in Spanish-era colonial Philippines, a young charismatic preacher leads a movement for equality and religious freedom for his fellow native Filipinos. He is hailed as the Christ of the Tagalogs, but is sentenced to death for heresy by both Church and State.
EDSA
Three stories, one day in EDSA. An opportunistic entrepreneur develops a bond with a street kid trying to help him get to his business meeting in Makati, after losing his cellphone to a snatcher. A teacher from the province haggles with a former OFW, turned taxi driver, whether the country should follow world standards in basic education requirements. And a snatcher trying to reform himself with the help of a nurse by trying to return what he stole. Three stories all asking the same thing: what matters most, the collective or the individual gain?
Tandem
Prudencio
In the traffic-laden streets of Metro Manila, two brothers use the chaos of the city roads as a smokescreen for their shady occupation tandem robbers on motorbike. But when a robbery goes sour, the brothers are forced to graduate from low level thieves to high profile hit men in an act that tests both their resolve and their relationship.
Stars Versus Me
Elena a young girl brought up by a horoscope-addicted mother to have her life dictated by signs and omens. When Elena’s mother dies in a fire, she decides to wage war on the stars by doing the exact opposite of what her daily horoscope is dictating.
Boy Golden: Shoot-To-Kill
Razon's Henchman
The film is very, very loosely based on the life of Arturo Porcuna (Jeorge Estregan). Once upon a time, he was known as Boy Anino, notorious leader of the Bahala Na gang. But rival gangster Tony Razon (John Estrada) attacked him in his home, leaving his entire gang and his family dead in the ruins. But Porcuna survived, and now he returns under a new alias, Boy Golden, and he seeks revenge against those that did him wrong. Along the way, he meets Marla D (KC Concepcion), a dancer who also has a bone to pick with Razon. Together, the two carry out a dangerous plan to take on Manila’s toughest gangsters.
Bendor
Blondie (Vivian Velez) is personified as three things: a hardworking businesswoman, a wife who’s been cheated on, and a mother of three. She is a 50-something woman with poor eyesight who works as an upfront candle vendor outside Quiapo church and sells Cytotec, an abortion pill, on the side.
Bola
Sheldon
Lester, the star player of their community basketball team who dreams of playing at the country's premier league, but encounters a problem on the way to PBA (Philippine Basketball Association). He meets Pandy (Arnel Ignacio), a couturier who is smitten by Lester's looks. Pandy becomes the team's manager and helps him become part of the college's varsity team. Pandy is obviously in love with Lester, a straight guy devoted to his childhood sweetheart Denise (Sofia Valdez). Lester is at a loss when Pandy's love for him turns into an obsession.
Ligo na Ü, Lapit na Me
College senior Intoy (Edgar Allan Guzman) is unwittingly fallen into a friend-with-benefits situation with his mysterious classmate Jenny (Mercedes Cabral). Jenny has a reputation for being promiscuous, and Intoy plays aloof to hide the fact that he’s fallen in love with her. Slowly, Jenny opens up to him as well, revealing the vulnerable center to her seemingly impervious façade. But poor, confused Intoy isn’t really equipped to deal with the feelings involved.
Cuchera
Based on a true story, Cuchera is about Filipino drug mules, drug couriers and their recruiters. It follows the story of Isabel, a veteran drug mule, in her first attempt at running her own drug transshipment operation between Manila and China. Isabel’s character is based on the story of an actual Filipina drug mule who was caught with eight capsules of heroin lodged in her sex organ, 48 in the rectum and 11 in her abdomen after an x-ray was conducted by Chinese authorities. Cuchera presents an accurate depiction of how some Filipinos end up becoming entrenched in the world of illegal drugs. Currently, the Philippines leads all Southeast Asian countries in the number of nationals arrested for drug smuggling charges in China. As of 2009, there are currently 95 Filipinos languishing in various jails in Chinese territories---four of whom are on death row. Violators include minors who enter China with fake passports.
Dampi
A story about two gays who experienced a miracle.
Fling
Mindy always fall for the wrong guy. Japo is not ready for a relationship. Fiona is back to claim what is rightfully hers. Three hearts. Three different beats. Only one meaning, love.
Ben & Sam
Sam's Father
A college heartthrob meets a college newbie - a challenge, a tension, a discovery, and a love that will change everything between them.
Si Baning, si Maymay at ang Asong si Bobo
Domeng
A story of a small seaside neigborhood seen in the eyes of youngsters Baning, her bestfriend Maymay and her brother Paeng. Bobo happens to be their drunkard neighbor’s pet dog.
Baseco Bakal Boys
Roberto
The heart-tugging story of children who scavenge for metal scraps in the murky waters of Manila Bay, often risking their lives in the process.
100
Gilbert
With only three months left to live, a cancer patient compiles a list of tasks to complete before she dies.
Loss of Innocence
The title "Binyag" translates to 'loss of innocence,' and this little-known film from the Philippenes shows, very effectively, the process in which one young person loses his own innocence. A boy living a quiet, picturesque life in the Filipino province, spending his days swimming in the sea, is offered a job as a "film star" when a shady "talent scout" visits his small village. He promises the naive Leo that he can "make him a star." Leo, excited at the idea of escaping his seemingly mundane life, accepts the offer, thus beginning his journey to the city of Manila, where he will learn some hard facts about the world he lives in.
Tambolista
Castro
Jason and Billy struggling to fulfill their unlikely dream, and having their world crumble around them as a consequence.
The Goat
Producer
Peping wakes up to find out that Gima, their goat, is missing. His family make a living out of the milk provided the goat. He hides the truth from his grandmother. His father is also arriving the next day so he needs to find Gima before its too late. Together with his younger sister, Lita, the two go on a seemingly impossible search for the goat in the landscape of the island of Sabtang, in Batanes. A series of frustrating episodes mark the day, tension and desperation growing as natural and human forces conspire to frustrate them at every turn. The odyssey teaches the boy about the true meaning of life- where kindness and cruelty can be found in close proximity.
Slingshot
A tribute to the real potential of digital cinema, Slingshot is a slum epic on steroids. It weaves stories left and right into a shocking tableau about life for the lowest of the low in the Philippines poorest and most crime-ridden districts. National elections are coming up so in the usual attempt to appear “tough-on-crime”, The Big Boys have been sent into crack down on the the local squatters, thieves and miscreants who litter the film like broken bottle. And since no sweep is ever a clean sweep, the cops brutal shock-force tactics quickly ripple outwards with jagged repurcussions.
The Inmate
Jail Guard
Set in two contrasting environments that underline the same premise of imprisonment, Selda tells the story of Rommel, a young man who accidentally kills a boy, resulting in his incarceration. Inside the jail, he befriends another inmate, who becomes his rock and protector. Seven years later, Rommel is living in the province as a farmer together with Sita his wife. Esteban tracks down Rommel in hopes of renewing a brewing love affair. Rommel and Sita welcome Esteban into their lives until their intimacy crosses borderlines and results in the undeniable scourge of self-discovery
Heremias: Book One - The Legend of the Lizard Princess
Ed
A wandering peddler separates from his fellow salesman and becomes involved with criminals in the jungle.
Rotonda
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.
inter.m@tes
A group of gay friends who meet through the internet become frenzied when a closeted gay actor sleeps with one of the men's new boyfriends. An outing ensues and a death. Was it murder or suicide?
Minsan May Isang Puso
Celso
Boyet Palacios is a teenage boy whose family used to be middle class. Reversal of fortune happens after the father gets sick and becomes a vegetable confined to his bed.
Arayyy!
Working student Lorena is left with no choice but to turn to prostitution when her the misfortunes of her family hit hard
Madame X
The movie chronicles the life of a young woman caught in the middle of an ugly war between her fiance and his father.
Live Show
Vio
Story revolves around the sad plight of the live sex performers Rolly (Paolo Rivero), Gigi (Klaudia Koronel), Rosita (Ana Capri), Sandra (Hazel Espinosa and Vio (Simon Ibarra) and what drives them to do the inexplicable.
Efren's Paradise
Melvin, a social worker, meets handsome stripper Efren and they become friends. When Melvin's mother dies, he moves in with Efren and his three female roommates.
Dama de Noche
A woman (Ynez Veneracion) who was maltreated during her younger years (Aiza Marquez played the young role) gets revenge on the people who abused her.