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.

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.

Hello, World

Long-time friends, Jeff and Johan have just graduated from high school. The former refuses to join his mom to move to the U.S. while the latter resists going to college. Filmmaker Joel Ferrer nostalgically captures the trials and joys of teenage love in an offbeat dramedy for his debut feature.

Gaydar

Alvin Yapan’s latest work casts a refreshing take on modern relationships as he takes on the themes of romantic obsession, real identities and perhaps, true love. Tina’s love live seems doomed as every guy she falls for turns out to be…into other guys. She vows never to fall in love again and seeks solace in the company of her gay best friend Nick. Her life gets a turnaround when she meets a handsome FX driver that unleashes a dizzying string of surprises.

Intertwined

Bigkis is a progressive drama that reveals many of the problems and intense pressure in an overcrowded public maternity hospital. It tells the story of Mariel, an inner-city teen and a member of band faced with the realization of an unwanted pregnancy and its consequences. It also tells the story of Edel, a diligent young hospital attendant who witnesses all the predicament of these unfortunate individuals. This drama takes a straightforward look at the issue of teen pregnancy and single parenting and the plight of small public maternity hospital workers doing the dirty works without receiving any sufficient income.

Tila

In a world where the rain never stops, illegal multivitamin supplements are all the rage and bulalo' is a most precious commodity, two people - a flood control worker and a call center agent who sells summer vacation packages abroad - meet and find a sens of intimate normalcy and unfamiliar ease in each other.

Beauty in a Bottle

The lives of three women change when a new beauty product arrives.

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.

Islabodan

Caloy, a lone, apathetic plastic bottle collector, gets caught in the middle of two warring gangs which changes his disposition in life forever.

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.

Nakaw

Bateng, a boy who triggered a series of life-changing events when he stole an old woman's purse.

Still

In a fishing village that’s been ravaged by a strong typhoon, the bond of twin brothers is disrupted by another young boy. Hilom follows the journey of the brothers, Andres and Gael, as they find healing against the harsh landscape of an island that’s also trying to recover.

Bawod

On the eve of her school’s annual Talent Show in a small rural village in the mountains of Iloilo, twelve-year-old Thirdy is worried she will not be able to perform because she could not afford to rent a traditional costume and pay the required contribution. Her ailing but affable grandfather, Cesario, acts as her sole guardian. He works as a bamboo farmer, but they could barely make ends meet. In the midst of all these, Thirdy starts having visions of a mysterious man. She believes the apparition is that of her long dead father while everyone else dismisses her visions as nothing more than fantasies or illusions. On the day of the Talent Show, everything unravels as village problems and family secrets finally collide.

Nakauwi Na

A brave battle against grief, anger and injustice. Mang Jerry finds ways to earn enough money to get his son, a victim of extra judicial killings, out of the funeral home.

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.

Hornblower: Retribution

Hornblower and the other officers of the Renown must return to Jamaica to face a court-martial and possible execution for their actions in relieving their unstable captain.

Muxˣ

Mux spent many years in a coma in a clinic with a constant stream of television. But at least he survived a serious car accident! Now he has woken up, and he has a plan: during his time in hospital, he came up with the idea of a fairer society. From now on, Mux sees it as his task to save the world from neoliberalism and goes to France, the motherland of revolutions, with his long-term nurse Karsten and a self-written manifesto.

Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters

Lieutenant Hornblower and his shipmates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.

Avé

While hitchhiking from Sofia to Ruse, Kamen meets Avé, a 17-year-old runaway girl. With each ride they hitch, Avé invents new identities for them, and her compulsive lies get Kamen deeper and deeper into trouble. Reluctantly drawn into this adventure, Kamen begins to fall in love with the fleeting Avé.

Utta Danella - Von Kerlen und Kühen

Anna is a farmer with heart and soul. Until now, there has been no room for men in her life, but now it's high time. Her father Hans and mother Elisabeth want to retire and hand over the farm to her. But Anna can't manage the work alone, and she can't afford an employee. A husband is needed. He should be attractive, humorous, intelligent and imaginative as far as the erotic side is concerned. And above all: a farmer, organic of course! Internet dating doesn't prove to be very helpful in her search. On top of that, her parents want to set her up with her sandpit friend Ludwig.

Wake Up

A woman is forced to rediscover her humanity in an increasingly digital world.

Stripped Down: The Making of ‘Anora’

Making of documentary surrounding the production of ‘Anora’

Faceless

After waking up disoriented and frightened in a hospital room, George discovers that he has received a full face transplant.

12

An old Finnish athlete travels alone through eastern Europe with his van.

Hello

I wouldn't answer if I were you' Hello is the story of a young lady who falls prey to an evil killer.. alone in her apartment, eagerly awaiting the return of her boyfriend, the phone rings...

Ever After High: Dragon Games

Dragons return to Ever After High, and so does the Evil Queen. When the most epic competition and evil scheme starts at Ever After High, Raven and Apple must let go of their story conflict and save their beloved school together.

Destroy All Humans

Destroy All Humans is a documentary exploring AI’s rise in art and media through an existential, experimental lens. At its center is HOVERBORG, a fictional band whose AI-generated music sparked questions about creativity and authenticity. Through interviews with musicians, artists, and media professionals, the film reflects on the unsettling shift toward hyperpersonalized media and asks: In a world shaped by algorithms, will we still recognize ourselves in the art we consume?

I Am You

In Peace We Trust. This documentary shows us how animal rights and human rights & the environment are all related. And the diverse effects that they have on each other and the planet. We are all inter-connected and part of the whole, so why would we want to hurt another living being that is a part of us? I Am You. Narrated by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker and featuring Jimmy Carter, Maneka Gandhi and Harold Ramis among others.

Dashain

While an opulent Dashain arrives at Hakimsaab's house, Bhaire, his neighbor and employee, struggles to afford even the basic necessities for his family. This film shows the divergence within the same festival, serving as a callous reminder of the stark differences between socio-economic classes in Nepal.

The Tell-Tale Heart

A paranoid caretaker’s obsession with her elderly charge drives her to make a deadly and irreversible choice.

12

12, is a comic parody about an office's obsession with the television show 24 as the their obsessions kick into high gear with the shows season finale approaching. Part The Office part 24, the short film mash-up introduces a novel send-up of these pop culture staples.

Devilman - Volume 3: Devilman Apocalypse

Fear runs rampant throughout Tokyo with the revelation that demons in fact exist amongst us. Paranoia and the darker side of humanity boils onto the streets as people turn on one another, suspecting that anyone could in fact be a demon hiding in human clothing. Amidst the growing tensions, tragedy strikes Akira causing his mind to snap, retreating into his subconscious, allowing his Devilish alter-ego Amon to break free from Akira's cage of flesh and wreak havoc on both human and demons alike.

Reencuentro

Refrain

A story about everyday life funeral in the 70s.

Man

An experimental film through the eyes of a man