Three stories of haunting secrets, folklore, and urban legends.
Badong
Misfortune starts to happen on an island when a beautiful maiden is washed ashore. She falls in love with a local fisherman who eventually disappears after a sea accident. She commits to do and to give everything, even her body, in order to find him.
Lucas / Ellen's father
A naive provincial girl finds a way to get ahold of her independence through the help of her girl best friend. But their actions have nerve-shattering consequences.
Himself
A one-of-a-kind legacy project produced by TBA Studios, Habambuhay is a homage to the centennial anniversary of Philippine cinema–an insightfully entertaining documentary series, revisiting the personal experiences of those who work in front of or behind the cameras, those who have shaped the film industry of the Philippines for the longest time.
Rodrigo
Manila, 7 de julho de 2009. Enquanto o funeral televisionado de Michael Jackson toca em todo o país, apesar dos ataques terroristas no sul, um filho distante compra uma criança que pode beber e fumar ...
Two college freshmen, Pol and Laya, accidentally meet during their last day of school in Baguio City. Laya is about to move back to Manila to escape from her failed romance, while Pol is about to spend a care-free night in a music festival. After witnessing Laya’s breakdown because of her recent heartbreak, Pol gets an idea to make her last night in Baguio fun and memorable.
Filipino director Adolfo Alix Jr. returns to the Festival with this timely story of a couple caught up in Rodrigo Duterte’s violent war on drugs when their son goes missing.
NBI Director Francisco Lastimosa
A serial killer in Payatas leaves the bodies of young boys in the dump as two Jesuit priests try to solve the murders.
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.
Mang Danny
After a turbulent squall in the night, villagers wake up to the astonishing sight of the sea that has turned red.
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.
A tragic-comic portrait of a dysfunctional family and the disquieting blind faith they invoke as they dream of going home.
This is a story of the journey of 3 souls heading towards healing and redemption. RINGGO is a 16-year old boy who works as a dog-shooter (the one who assists in mating the dogs with breed -- he will see to it that the private parts of the stud and bitch will be locked during the mating and no sperm will be put to waste in the process). Ringgo works for BONG, a 40-year old lesbian who is a breeder of dogs. One of Bong’s dogs is I’nca, who is a troubled Doberman. Things will get complicated when Ringgo, I’nca and Bong developed a relationship as if they were really mother and child, and get entangled in each other’s personal issues and becomes each other’s protector and defender. The one that ties the three of them is that invisible umbilical cord... the cord of love and sacrifice.
When a young Filipino room service attendant's schemes to attain a U.S. visa put the lives of his loved ones in danger, he is forced to question the extremity of his actions and re-evaluate the cost of fulfilling his dreams.
Quintin Rivera
Felix Yzagun Manalo is a sprawling historical epic that traces the origin of Iglesia Ni Cristo (The Church of Christ) which is established in the Philippines from its humble beginnings in 1914 through the present day.
James is a gym instructor by day and a student by night, who struggles to keep both ends meet. Standing as the family bread winner, he is determined to make a difference in his troubled family. He and his three siblings grew up without knowing who their father is, while their mother is a retired prostitute who runs a whore house. James works hard to graduate.
Five Aging ex-cons are trying to go straight after being release from prison. But unable to find work, they pin their hopes on a treasure map left to them by an inmate.
"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.
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?
This is a sober and impartial study of homosexuality through the story of a middle-aged gay couturier and his attempts at keeping his dignity amidst the dilemmas and problems brought upon by his homosexuality.
An assassin, a porn dubber and a transgender. Three souls. One explicit illusion. To find the ultimate joy in their empty lives. A safe haven, where passion and love mean humanity, ecstasy means enlightenment; and the soul is the ultimate arbiter of the truth.
A story of greedy businessman on how they make their own money.
Bangas-An
A Bajau midwife copes with the irony of her own infertility amid the deprivations of her gypsy community in Tawi-Tawi. A saga of island life stuck between the devil of passion and the deep blue sea of tradition.
A story of the 3 individuals and their unfinished business in earth that they have to accomplish while they are still in Limbo.
Moises
In this movie, the abuwak race is being threatened by extinction. The only way they can grow in numbers again is through the rare ability that only the soon-to-be queen of the abuwaks, Hasmin (Lovi Poe) possesses.
Miguel
Impoverished, childless and living in a garbage dump, Miguel and Lina become instant celebrities when Lina miraculously becomes pregnant. But Lina gives birth to a fish, which increases her celebrity but leaves Miguel humiliated and the couple at odds. What follows is an illuminating examination of how this unusual family copes and compromises in the face of a modern-day miracle.
Gerry
Eugene arrives in Bukidnon with only one intention: to forget his problems at work. But when he meets Raffy and as they travel and go on ridiculous and death-defying activities together, they start to form a friendship that goes beyond Euge’s original plan. Raffy helps Euge appreciate himself more and to look at things in a positive way. With Raffy, Euge begins to believe in himself again. Soon, against his own expectations, he admits to himself that has fallen in love with this girl. But life is truly ironic. The moment Euge expresses his feelings for her, Raffy suddenly starts to push him away. She admits that he can never have her, and she doesn’t want Eugene to hope for a happy ending with her, because she cannot be loved.
Tolome
The brothers, Jun and Diego embark on a quest to find their father. Their journey leads them to a mountain town where they meet the beautiful Lila and her brother, the charismatic Pido. Pido is a gracious host, introducing the brothers to the ways of the tribe, where members live a simple existence of brotherhood and equality, far from the corruption and greed that rule “civilization”. Jun is enamored by the possibility of living in Panimdim, little suspecting that the tribesmen’s pacifistic exteriors belie a terrible secret.
A story about a dancer and a thief.
Efren Samonte
Everything is falling into place for Alan Alvarez. With an impending high ranking promotion and four years of stable relationship with his dream girl, Daphne Recto, he is at the cusp of getting everything he's always wanted. Mia Samonte is getting tired of her forlorn life. She is back in Manila for the holidays after working hard for two years as a front desk officer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With the hopes of getting the chance to finally have a break, her family gets into another crisis that leaves her hopeless and fated. Two individuals with seemingly predestined lives suddenly find their paths crossing on a ferry boat ride that will change the course of their journeys forever.
Director
Little Opao and Biboy grew up together in an orphanage in Taal, Batangas and promised themselves to be best friends forever. As they grow older they head into separate ways; to be adopted by their respective new parents. Opao is adopted by a spinster whose failed career in acting prompts her to mould Opao into a superstar with the nickname Darling. Meanwhile, Biboy is adopted by Crisp Pops.
Mang Avelino
A story of two high school senior students who believes passing the UPCAT will help make their dreams of becoming successful come true.
Student wants to join a fraternity and has to endure live endangering tests in order to do so.
Kontra Madiaga
A man follows a woman through the streets.
Boy
Pam meets Rico an Ivatan, and decides to leave her stressful life in the city to follow him to Batanes to meet his parents Boy and Lydia and marry him. Pam tries to adapt to the Ivatan way of life but hates the sea that Rico loves so much. Her hatred for the sea intensifies when her husband Rico dies in a fishing accident. Pam is devastated and decides to go back to Manila. But when she sensed that the sea was laughing at her failure, she chose to stay in Batanes to be with Rico's family. In one of her trips to the sea, she accidentally meets Kao Ken Chu, a Taiwanese, whom she rescues during a storm. As they spend time together, the two eventually fall for each other despite language barriers and cultural differences.
Fred Rodriguez (segment "Toga")
Seven stories with no connection at all but with a common universal theme of doing good deeds and making the right decision.
A 2007 Filipino satire written and directed by Jun Urbano
Investigator Matriponio
The journey in solving the greatest mysteries of life begins on the first day of school. Brainy Indy, MVP MJ2, Sosy Pre, Rebel Gael and Nice Guy Nathan are college freshmen who enter FDH University without knowing what college life will bring them. Until they all got involved in the biggest mystery the university has ever encountered- B.W.A.C.A. or Basketball Water Contamination Accident. Initial investigation shows that the water drank by the players during the game was contaminated by a mysterious substance.
About two lonely people who met during the whaleshark watching season in Donsol, Sorsogon.
The daughter of a circumciser rebels and challenges the status quo when she is asked to take over her father's job.
Henchman #2
O 6º batalhão do exército norte-americano recebe uma das missões mais ingratas possíveis: resgatar, nas Filipinas, cerca de 500 prisioneiros norte-americanos de guerra que estão nas mãos das tropas japonesas. Enfrentando as condições mais adversas, eles andam 30 milhas por trás das linhas inimigas para tentar cumprir a missão. Toda a tensão que os soldados enfrentam e o perigo iminente precisam ser controlados pelo líder da missão, que comanda tudo com braço firme, mas que também sabe dos perigos que serão enfrentados. A produção foi filmada em 2002, mas demorou algum tempo até ficar completamente pronta, sendo lançada somente em 2005. O filme apresenta uma história dramática ao mesmo tempo em que mescla ótimas cenas de ação, contando com fidelidade um caso real de heroísmo.
It is about a group of investigative journalists from a sub-par TV station who accidentally scores a scoop that a 21-year-old boy is looking around for his identity… he claims to be the son of the late director Lino Brocka, a known gay filmmaker.
Jake (Jeffrey Quizon) is a caretaker at a boarding residence that houses a whole array of characters. But one day his life changes when he hovers over the lives of newlyweds Cecilia (Katya Santos) and Ding (Allen Dizon).
College life is no party and friends Maggs and Koko know this very well. They receive support from their families which is not enough to pay for all the expenses. To augment their allowance, they looked for a job but are always rejected because they lack the experience. Frustrated, they turned to the oldest profession to be able to continue their studies.Their friend, Sarah, a call girl warns them about the dangers of the trade but it's too late to back out already...
The movie tells the story of Abigael Edades who returns to her Philippine hometown from her five-year stint as a nurse in Canada. Her town mates rousingly welcome her as a hero, the crass moniker ascribed by the government to hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working abroad. She finds her family in tatters, her parents estranged and living apart and her brother Jepoy living the life of drugs. But she basks in the welcome of her mother and youngest brother Noel and the devotion of her boyfriend, who proposes marriage. Her happiness is short-lived. She is diagnosed with SARS and contaminates Noel. They cause a national scare, are quarantined in Manila and are shunned by their own townspeople and the municipal government. Even her boyfriend leaves her. The hero becomes a heel. "Just a month after my return, my views on life and the people around me have irrevocably changed," she says at the start of the movie.
Puging
Escaping the torment of growing up with an abusive older brother, he and his friends found further suffering at the hands of Japanese soldiers, forced into sex work to survive. But even after the war, Markova's struggle continued.
Roque
A woman who falls under the sway of a crime boss plots to bring him down after a horrible betrayal in this drama from the Philippines. Azun (Elizabeth Oropesa) is a wife and mother living in a dangerous neighborhood in Manila, where she peddles goods on the street. Azun's husband Roque (Bembol Roco) becomes involved in a burglary that goes awry, leading to a lengthy jail sentence. With few options, and needing safety and support, Azun becomes involved with Timo (Christopher De Leon), leader of a local crime syndicate. But Timo's protection does not extend to Azun's teenage daughter Ada (Angelu De Leon); Timo rapes Ada, then forces her to leave her boyfriend (Jomari Yllana) and start dancing in his strip club. When Azun learns what Timo has done to Ada, she makes plans to get her revenge.
Luis
A Filipino movie based on the television series Esperanza, opens up where the TV finale left off.
Mendez
Carding is an ex-convict trying to start anew outside the bars and got a job as a taxi driver. However, just as he swore not to get involved in any illegal activities, a young woman Kristine rented his taxi cab as a getaway vehicle in a in a staged abduction, where she played as the hostage. As Carding put his best foot forward to save her from the kidnappers yet policemen mistook him as one of the crooks. For the second time around, he got arrested. Carding escaped from the jail and found out Kristin’s deception. He implored her to clean up his name to the authority. The conscience-stricken Kristin affirmed to attest the truth. As her statement was broadcast in the Philippine television, it is also seen by the Robbery Gang leader.
Self
A documentary TV special on the life of Lino Brocka, released in 1998 for Pinoy Blockbuster Original.
Phillip Ko directs this low-budget Phillippine action film.
Sgt. Macatulos (episode 1)
This second feature film based on the popular television series features two true legal cases. The first is of a nanny accused of kidnapping the child in her care, and the second is about how a rich family tries to cover up the murder of a poor man.
Pulon, Pedring's Stepfather
When a dinosaur egg is unearthed by a powerful volcano, a little boy's life is changed forever. The pterodactyl named "Vulcan", and the little boy end up forming an unbreakable bond of friendship while on an amazing spree of adventures.
An Filipino action police film directed by Francis Posadas .
Rufo
Sarah, an archaeologist and museum curator, is good at recovering and restoring treasures. One day, a very important treasure map is stolen from the museum, but the map is in Latin and the guys who seized it cannot read it.
Sabater
Carlos is to put to jail for several years because a young boy named Boying witnessed him fatally stab Totoy, his attacker and the brother of his girlfriends Ellen. After ten years in prison, Carlos has been freed and is now ready to start anew. He also befriends Boying who helps him defend their weak neighborhood. All is well until Boying’s father gets killed by a group of corrupt policemen. Boying finds a friend in Carlos who teams up with him to hunt his father’s killers. As they learn to let go of their bitter experiences in life, they will also develop a new friendship stronger than blood ties.
Spade
Childhood friends Victor and Narding built their friendship in the street. At a very young age, they were partners performing dangerous activities. However, Narding heeds his foster parents’ request for him to enter the seminary to become a priest. Victor is left alone without any parental support. Later on, he grows up to be a criminal. His wayward ways eventually got him imprisoned. Meanwhile, Narding became a good priest. He visits his old friend Victor in the prison and supported him until he finished his term. Narding accompanies Victor to their hometown where Narding works as a parish priest. Albeit their friendship has rekindled, Victor and Narding argue because of their different ways of raising homeless kids. Victor trains them the rough and dangerous ways, while Narding wants them to settle everything in a peaceful manner.
Benjie
A man who vows to fight for justice (Lito Lapid) and a hard-hitting TV reporter (Maricel Soriano) are forced to work together to escape the people who are after them.
This film is based on a true story of Baguio City police officer Bobby Ortega.
Chief
Bert
The first team-up of Richard Gomez and Carmina Villaruel, playing Ardo and Rosel in this action flick, which is at the same time Ishmael Bernal's last film that is an attack on the religious establishment. Together, they become a part of Manila's petty underworld. After all the ordeals they encounter, they realize that they lost their innocence as they brush with evil and corruption. But they still survive the ordeal and make a new life somewhere else.
An heiress is abducted by rebels in the United States. Jacob, an experienced tracker serving his time in prison, is hired for the rescue mission in exchange for his freedom.
Kabo Bello
The life story of Waway, a notorious mad killer during the 1970s.
This love triangle story is about love, music, and drugs. Jessica was an upcoming singer who met Gary, a lead singer of a band, and Karlo, Gary's older brother who was an ex-convict.
That's why they hate his guts. Go find him in the streets of Makati, but do not cross his path! 'Cause his business is putting bullets into your head! A true story of Capt. Gabriel Paile of the Makati Police starring Miguel Rodriguez, Bembol Roco and Dick Israel.
A boy grows up not knowing his real identity. One day a mysterious lady, claiming to be his real mother, divulges the truth about his roots. He is caught between leaving his past and living his new life.
Falcon
A teenage boy befriends a starlet who is having an affair with an ambitious mayor. As the elections are coming up, the mayor's wife wants him to get rid of his mistress. The starlet agrees to stop the affair on condition that the mayor help release her boyfriend from jail. The mayor does so, but wants the former jail-bird to kill his political rival.
Clown
Five kids are rewarded with extraordinary powers by an aging scientist. Their mission is to correct the wrong and injustice in the world. With dynamic effort and dazzling speed, the five superheroes face the evil Exxor and his men, who are bent on creating worldwide havoc. It's up to our super kids to save the world and restore order.
Salve, a content barrio lass, is married to Alfred, an aspiring politician. Alfred meets Via finds out that they can both be very useful to each other's lives. He is set on pursuing a political career and Via is from a powerful political family that wants to continue to govern the land. Together, Albert and Via plan a scheme to get rid of Salve. But Salve survives the carnage. Salve takes revenge.
Major Kontra
Set during the post-Marcos regime in a remote village of Dolores, chronicles the life of Jimmy Cordero, a political prisoner who have just been freed from prison after the decline of the Marcos dictatorship. From his revolutionary past, he got himself into human rights activism following his prison release. He and his wife’s brother once conducted a fact-finding mission to Dolores only to find out the terror brought about to its residents by the Orapronobis, a government backed anti-communist paramilitary troop deployed in the town of Dolores.
Three mothers fight over one child
Gabi Na Kumander is the story of two brothers with opposite beliefs who suddenly find themselves in a fight for what each one believes is right. Ramil Macan had been assigned to fight the rebels in Sto. Nio and he discovers that the rebel leader is no other than his younger brother, whom he had given up for dead years ago. Ronald Macan, former law student and activist, took to the hills with the imposition of martial law. He is known as Kumander Kobra. Ramil had been assigned to put a stop to his activities and in the name of the law to take him dead or alive.
Mon Zablan
A story about a Filipina immigrant nurse's struggle to survive in the United States.
The four children find each other after Elisa and her mother, were thrown out of the house by the evil mother-in-law. Left to fend for themselves, they end up living with the mother’s friend, a bar girl, in an informal settlement.
The 'Sabets'
Experiencing the forbidden. Experiencing rejection. Hating your parents. Hating the world around you. Discovering what's hot. Discovering what's cool. Discovering your first true love. Discovering who you are. Growing up can be such a wild time. But not when you've got the best guys to hang out with. Five chaste young men immerse themselves in the superficialities and superfluity of adolescence over the course of their last year in high school. But as they make their gradual transition from boyhood to manhood, they realize it is their formidable bond that stands as the real deal.
Gary
Official entry to the first Metro Manila Film Festival in 1983 directed by Arsenio 'Boots' Bautista and starred Tony Ferrer, Efren Reyes, Jr., Bembol Roco, Raoul Aragon, Anna Marie Gutierrez, and Lolita Marquez.
A mother juggles her family's dying publishing house along with her troubled relationship with her three daughters.
Kumar
Australian journalist Guy Hamilton travels to Indonesia to cover civil strife in 1965. There—on the eve of an attempted coup—he befriends a Chinese Australian photographer with a deep connection to and vast knowledge of the Indonesian people, and also falls in love with a British national.
Bembol
Ivan, a writer living in Manila, walks through the city in search of his past.
Himself
Brocka's potboiler about the rise of a starlet is the quintessential rags-to-riches, prey-turned-predator story, brimming with true-life anecdotes and an authentically acerbic sense of the seamier side of show business.
Filipino Vietnam War flick
Abel
Ancestral home to a wealthy family is being haunted by malevolent spirits. On other side of town, evil creatures are lurking.
Nonoy
PX, short for Paula Xavier (Vilma Santos) was an illegal alien in New York City. She’s broke and waiting for her fiancé to fulfill his promise of marriage despite the fact that he has already married an American to secure a green card. Hiding from the authorities, PX met two men who are willing to take care of her but conflicts arise as the two want to maintain a serious relationship with her.
Boy Kodyak is detective Teo Rosa, a young plainclothesman still embued with idealism. When he finds out that a small-time punk named Rogel is fighting the syndicate, he decides to track him down, both to arrest and to support.
Andro
Alice, Benjie and Andro are bank robbers who go into hiding in the jungle after one of them kills a civilian during a heist.
Eric
Virginal Ninay becomes a woman as an object of desire for liberation, but she's confused about her gender.
Norman
Suzette thinks she’s liberated woman who doesn’t believe in marriage. On the other hand her boyfriend, Norman, keeps on proposing. These are conflicting beliefs of two students undoubtedly in love with each other. Their relationship is then put to the test when Suzette meets Manny, who happens to share the same belief with her. Will she swallow her so-called principle and be merry with the one she truly loves?
Dido (as Bembol Roco Jr.)
"Pag-puti ng Uwak, Pag-itim ng Tagak" is a pulsating love story that recaptures the nostalgic fifties, the exciting era of mass hysteria, and the golden years of the rock and roll fever inflicted by screaming, wiggling hip-shaking foreign pop idols dominated by Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Pat Boone, Doris Day and the Platters. It is more than a love story. It is also a commentary - a satire rich with humor injected into a moral, psychological, sociological, and cultural aspect, outlook, and values of the said bygone era. It is a poignant rich-girl-meets poor boy love story of Julie Monserat and Candido Ventura - two love-struck starry eyed youths who fought for their right to love each other, here is a story that touches social conflict - the perennial clashes and discrimination between the rich and the poor.
Sgt. Rigor
Set at the backdrop of the 1969 congressional elections, Banta ng Kahapon unravels the story of men as pawns in a millue of political power - men best described as beholden only to amorality and the highest bidding politicos who pay their services.
Crispin (as Rafael Roco Jr.)
A woman fell in love with a Japanese soldier, during the Japanese Occupation in the Philippines. The whole town turned against her.
The setting is an Olongapo bar. Lolita Rodriguez is an ex-movie queen trying to earn a living for her son and herself. He is mortally embarrassed by her livelihood and sometimes refuses to acknowledge her as his mother. Bembol Roco is the son of a prostitute who has disappeared from his life. He is looking for his mother in the honky tonk bars. He meets Lolita Rodriguez whom he fancies as his lover. However, he thinks of her as a decent woman. But Lolita has financial problems. In order to pay for her debts, she is forced to perform a striptease. Bembol happens to be in the bar when she starts to gyrate, but she ignores his presence. This destroys his illusions. When they are alone together, she berates him and teaches him the value of survival and acceptance of one’s fate.
David
It proceeds to document the stages of sugar production once in the mill then shifts to the unrest outside where a sakada was shot to death by one of the hacienda's guards. A sakada is a farmer who works in a sugarcane field, harvesting it during the months of October to December.
Julio Madiaga
Julio chega a Manila em busca de seu amor de infância, Ligaya, e descobre que a garota foi vendida e trabalha como prostituta. Ele, então, tem de lutar para libertar Ligaya e para sobreviver na capital filipina.
Self
Jovem rapaz, sai de colonia de pescadores onde mora e vai para capital a procura de sua noiva que foi levada por uma mulher na proposta de emprego e estudo na cidade grande. Ao chegar, o rapaz é assaltado e consegue um emprego temporario em uma construção onde faz amizades que o ajudarão a encontrar seu amor, mas a metropole logo transforma-se em uma selva de amargas experiências.
"Kontrabida" is about an actress named Anita whose onscreen persona merges with her real life.
