Manila... A Filipino Film

Sid Lucero, a 26-year old pre-Med student is an aspiring neophyte of the Alpha Kappa Omega fraternity. Over a six-month initiation period, he and six other neophytes are subjected to severe physical and psychological torture in and outside the fraternity house. The neophytes come to accept the senseless violence as a requisite of their acceptance into the brotherhood. Only five of them survive the brutal, fascistic ordeal, due to the fraternity rumble with Sigma Omicron Sigma headed by Arvisu.

Two filmmakers try to create a film venturing on the life of Jose Rizal. Before they do that, they try to investigate on the heroism of the Philippine national hero. Of particular focus is his supposed retraction of his views against the Roman Catholic Church during the Spanish regime in the Philippines which he expressed primarily through his two novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The investigation was done mainly by "interviewing" key individuals in the life of Rizal such as his mother Teodora Alonso, his siblings Paciano, Trinidad, and Narcisa, his love interest and supposed wife Josephine Bracken, and the Jesuit priest who supposedly witnessed Rizal's retraction, Fr. Balaguer. Eventually, the two filmmakers would end up "interviewing" Rizal himself to get to the bottom of the issue.

In 1988 and 1989, the late Cesar Hernando, writer Ian Victoriano and I started a series of interviews of LVN actors, directors and technicians with the intention of publishing a book on the story of LVN Pictures, one of the major studios of the studio era. One of our interviewees was the great character actor, Joseph de Cordova. In 2006 I made a short documentary using excerpts from that thoroughly engaging interview and included it as an added feature to the privately authored DVD of “Biyaya ng Lupa,” where Joseph plays Bruno, one of the actor’s most memorable roles.

Filmmaker Mike De Leon released this short on the eve of the 1986 EDSA Revolt anniversary. During its 5 minutes, De Leon draws a harsh critique of the filipino president Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

In a spoof on the contemporary sacred cons, two yuppy couples get entangled with warring smugglers of dope that include fake priests and nuns as well as Japanese and Chinese agents.

An assault on the Duterte/Marcos axis using footage from an early Mike De Leon film.

A young cameraman, Jun Torres, encounters a strange woman, Teresa, in his hometown at the time of Lent.

A nun who acts as a counselor in a home for unwed mother undergoes political awakening when her friend and namesake belonging to the same congregation as hers inspires her to get involved in the struggle for justice and freedom of striking workers in a cooking oil company.

A wealthy man comes to terms with his adopted sister.

an Asian anthology: Mirage, Aliwan Paradise, The Tree Of Life, and The Tokyo Game.