Adolfo Alix Jr.
A story about the reunion of former lovers a man who is in a marriage of convenience and a woman who is diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Andrew is mending a broken heart. It's been months since he broke up with his longtime partner Zeph. He still feels trapped in the memories of his relationship. He tries to keep himself busy with a lot of things to forget Zeph. He eventually finds himself searching for guys on a gay dating app. On the evening of the quarantine, Andrew feels especially lonely and decides to invite Brix, one of the rent boys he met online. As the night progresses, their conversations open up a lot of possibilities: healing and connection, lust and love and probably moving on. Is Andrew ready to commit again with someone like Brix?
Kyle is trying to finish his screenplay while on quarantine. He starts to feel and see weird things in his apartment, even facing his exact facsimile. Is the double a projection of himself, a figment of his wild imagination or a manifestation of his psychological breakdown? What follows is a spiral between fantasy and reality.
Neo, a shy and mute young boy and Omar, a mischievous teenager are forced to live together by their front-liner parents during the quarantine to keep them safe. Their cat and mouse banter later develops into some sort of budding bromance - complicated by the accidental chance of an innocent kiss.
Ryan and Quinn, a gay couple living in an open relationship with Pancho is suddenly confronted by a reality during the pandemic: that they are all unhappy with the set-up. The 'threesome' tries to reconcile their feelings for each other. What ensues conveys the intricacies of the men's complicated relationship abound with love, pain, secrets and lies.
Luke lost his father to CoVid. Matt, his father's lover, brings his remains and the two try to reconnect. The visit brings back memories and pains the two experienced in the past. Will they be able to finally forgive each other and move on from the sins of the past?
Wade and Jose Manuel, two people who magically meet although they are living in different periods - one in 1974, one in 2020. Jose Manuel is grounded after his military father learned of his relationship with Luis, an activist. Wade, on the other hand, is recovering from a recent break up with Eric and while on vacation is caught up in the Quarantine because of the COVID 19 Pandemic. After the super moon, an opportunity opens for these two heartbroken souls to connect across time and find love once again.
Calvin and Drake have been together since college. But that was before, when they were still in love with each other. The truth is their relationship is now in a limbo and not even good sex can save that. During the past two weeks, since the declaration of the quarantine throughout the entire Luzon, Drake has been anxious since he was not able to leave the apartment. He should have been on a vacation with his sister Yumi in Palawan, if only Calvin had allowed him to go before the lock-down started. Unbeknownst to Calvin, Drake is thinking of leaving him since the quarantine started. For him, that vacation was his way to reflect on their crumbling relationship.
Ivan is desperate to raise money to bring his mother Jack back home from Switzerland. He uses his body to get the attention of his clients as the pandemic makes it difficult for him to get decent job opportunities. When he goes viral online for his 'noble' reason behind what he's doing, he is caught up in a dilemma between right and wrong as he examines his real motivation behind his actions? Is he really doing it for the love of her mother or for the love of himself?
Greg, a philosophy professor, lives alone in his old apartment in Metro Manila. During the lockdown, he teaches online, reads novels, and does what he likes the most: sewing. Unexpectedly, a young man Harold shows up at his door and wants to borrow his bathroom to have a shower. Greg doesn't know how to refuse Harold and feels his privacy invaded at first, but they open up to each other after they start a conversation.
A mother who is separated with her young son during the lockdown is also trying to connect with her lover based in the US who's busy as a medical nurse. Their constant zoom conversation shows their fear for their personal relationships and the future.
The dramatization of the life of General Ronald dela Rosa.
Doña Atang, a once celebrated film producer from the earlier years of Filipino cinema, celebrates her one hundredth birthday. For her wish, she wants a reunion with all the actors and staff that she has worked with in the past. She is also looking for an unfinished film from one of her directors. Her grandson Michael decides to take the task of finding them. As he does, we remember the glorious years of cinema from its workers–fragments of a colorful past filled with faded memories.
Born with two-different personalities in one body, Kiko and Lala struggle as they fight for their right to love.
“In the time of colonization and oppression, a dark tale will be born. Out of misery, rage and hypocrisy, darkness will feed on the beaming light. In a small village, an enchanted forest carries fear, as spirits live there. They protect the forest against evil lurkers. Many never came out.” Thus opens this tale, on an ominous chant, of the Spanish-ruled Philippines of the 1900s: a time of tyranny, in which the Spanish clergy and the aristocracy went to great lengths to cover up their numerous and unspeakable misdeeds and crimes. A woman, raped and banished to the woods on a full moon’s night, sees her newborn child swallowed by animalistic shadows lurking in the foliage. Raised by the forest’s mysterious ghouls and demons — boars, wild cats and a many-eyed sage — the child grows. It experiences love, then heartbreak, and then fulfils the tale, changing into something larger-than-life, a mythical creature… a woman scorned.
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.
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.
College friends Derek and Mark slowly realize they mean more to each other than either had initially imagined. In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, their friendship blossoms into something much more enduring as time goes on - which challenges both to question who they thought they were and who they truly want to be.
The phenomenal EB Dabarkads love team Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza will star on a telemovie titled “Love Is…”. AlDub’s new telemovie will premiere on October 21,2017 which is directed by award-winning director Adlof Alix Jr.
Inspired by the much-publicized travails of Benhur Luy and Janet Lim Napoles, the film opens with a police operation that leads to the recovery of a certain Zeny Roblado (Nora Aunor) who has been unduly detained by her boss Lorna Valera (Cherry Pie Picache). From there, Zeny spills whatever she knows of Lorna's shady operations to Teresa (Angelica Panganiban), a journalist.
Noel who has to assume the responsibility of being the breadwinner of the family after his father went missing.
70-year-old Virginia shares the old ancestral house with Delia, her ever-loyal maid. Delia is marrying her long-time boyfriend, Rene, and tearfully confides to Virginia that she wants to go home to her parents in the province to start a new family life with him. Haunted by a past that Virginia tries to conquer her only son Sonny Boy who disappeared years ago, what follows shows a portrait of a woman and a mother trying to juggle the sad realities of life in a cycle of life and death.
A usual chain mail is forwarded to a group of people. Some pass it while others ignore. One dies and is followed by series of sudden and unexplainable deaths of others. Soon after, a revelation begins to unfold, the chain mail is cursed and so she has to find the origin and mystery behind to stop the misfortunes it may cause to anyone who fails to pass it before another life perish again. Sandra also suspects Anne is behind the tragic incidents that happened to their friends. Will she break the curse before it's too late or will she become one of the victims?
The day after the committal of her loved one, Ernest tries to move on. She gets a visit from Niles and they talk about the secrets of the past, hoping to forego of the conflict between them.
A journalist investigates a woman with the name of China Doll. Soon, he discovers his knowledge of her turns out to be dangerous.
The story of its namesake -- the forcible transfer of 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Japanese Army in 1942
At the heart of every Filipino film is the family, according to Adolfo B. Alix Jr. In his cool yet charged Mater Dolorosa, the actress Gina Alajar, who is very well known in the Philippines, plays a woman who dominates illegal activities in an old district of Manila. Her family's welfare has to be weighed against the interests of the criminal business she runs with her children.
Julian is a soldier stationed on a remote island in the Philippines. He has finished his three months of service on the island and is ready to leave, but news of a coup d’état in Manilla forces Julian to stay on the island longer. All Julian has is a walkie-talkie, radio and TV. Meanwhile, Julian senses someone watching him. When Julian loses contact with the main base, soldiers Lucio and Eric (Luis Alandy) are sent to the island. The soldiers then talk about a soldier previously stationed on the island and his encounters with a mermaid.
Makoto of the Japanese Imperial Army decided to go into hiding after the Japanese soldiers were defeated in 1945. In the dread of the forest, he decides to struggle despite efforts for him to surrender, thinking the war is not yet over. For a span of almost 20 years, he encounters different situations that will test his persona and his strength to his vow as a Japanese soldier.
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.
A Yakuza member seeking to lead a new life in Manila. A morbid turn of events brings Haruo (Jacky Woo) to the squalor of Manila. A prized asset of the feared Yakuza in Tokyo, Haruo, aka Tadano Hayashi, escapes the criminal syndicate with bountiful cash, a helpless Filipina bar girl (Nina Kodaka) – and tragic consequences. Now solitary, he has uprooted himself to the railside slums of the metropolis, wistfully fending for himself. Still hiding from his past, he rents out a small room, seemingly lost in the clutter of wandering souls desperate for survival. There, he spends his days anonymously roaming the congested streets selling food, and even giving them away for the hungry. But he mostly keeps to himself, even to the inquisitive Edna (Rosanna Roces), an aging bar girl with whom he occasionally shares his bed.
An unconventional love story between two souls. Their past catches up on them as their affection for each other goes stronger...
An ex-seminarian slash communist runs a hotel in Baguio. He then meets a handsome upcoming lawyer. A once-a-year trip to Baguio by the lawyer and conversations with the hotel owner develop into an affair which encompasses decades of socio-political changes in the country.
Documentary profiling the directors involved in the loose Philippine New Wave filmmaking movement.
Single mother Nora lives with her daughter Sarah on a cardboard groundsheet and hammock tied to the undercarriage of a semitrailer in the parking lot of a Manila cargo terminal. Deep in debt and receiving little help from her husband, Nora has nothing to live for except for Sarah. Living in a community suffering from abject poverty, Nora sifts through trash and spends time with Vilma, a happily single shopkeeper, and Minda, whose truck-driver husband disappeared a month ago presumably to live with another woman. With no other viable options to support her daughter, Nora turns to prostitution.
A group of young models on their way to a photo shoot are inadvertently stranded on a deserted, uncharted island. Though they've landed on a paradise beach, personalities clash and chaos soon reigns as they try to find a way to survive.
"The social worker Aurora is kidnapped by a group of Moslem rebels who have lost their ideals and only plunder. In a military attack on the camp where Aurora is being held, she manages to escape. But in the jungle, she doesn't have a hope and two attackers find her the same night. Her name means 'first light of day', but it's not at all certain that Aurora will make it that far." - IFFR
A tribute to filmmakers and National Artists Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. In the "Day" segment, Piolo Pacual portrays the role of William, a drug addict who tries to rebuild his sense of self and reconnect with the people around him. For the "Night" segment, Pascual portrays the role of Philip, who works as a bodyguard for a mayor's son. The bodyguard believes that his boss considers him as part of the family but after a shooting incident, he realizes his real worth to his boss. As he struggles to hide, he is slowly consumed by the claws of darkness lurking the city.
How come people who go there are never seen again? Does the villa "eat" people alive? The movie tells the story of Ana who has always been having nightmares about certain people getting killed of Madre Na Aswang. Things become scarier when her ex-boyfriend brings her to Villa Estrella where she meets a girl named Gisele who seems to be very familiar to her.
Adela, (Philippines' screen legend Anita Linda) a former radio personality, celebrates her 80th birthday. Alone, and without support, she longs for the family and stability of years gone by. Mundane events take on heightened meaning as Adela gauges her life against those of the sea of humanity. Adela is about the quiet moments in life that can fill us with either joy or sorrow.
Jennylyn Mercado, Jodi Sta. Maria, Agot Isidro, Coco Martin, and Jon Avila portray five graduating nursing students who are at a crossroads in their lives and their careers. Their different stories are a cross-section of society's nurses. Each character reflects the Pinoy's aspirations, motives, realities, ambivalence, and fears in becoming a nurse.
"HILAKBOT," Xavier Adriano's brainchild-horror show is doing well in its afternoon slot. The show tackles tongue-in-cheek re-enactments of horror stories interspersed with interviews with the people who have knowledge or have had experienced the hauntings. Now, GBS Network wants to bring it to primetime- provided that they present an entirely new concept. Carlo takes the challenge and decides to shoot in Siquijor- an Island in the south well-known of its mysticism. But that's just the beginning of things to come. The network assigns Doreen Jimenez as the executive producer of the new show. She has reputation of developing great shows for the network. But Doreen is Carlo's former flame. They still have unresolved issues to deal with. And now, she's breathing behind her neck and has a hand in the creative decisions.
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.
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.
The Resurreccion's ancestral mansion is believed to have a portal to the other world. Every quarter of a century, it must be opened by a chosen member of the clan, known as "The One", to enable stranded ghosts to cross over to the afterlife. With no surviving clan member opening the portal in the past 100 years, ghosts have overcrowded the now-abandoned mansion. Hesus Resurreccion is about to find out that he is The One but he is afraid of ghosts. When he inherits the mansion, he wants to sell it immediately but it isn't that easy since people believe the mansion is haunted. He totally freaks out when he learns that the people he sees in the mansion are all ghosts. Hesus has no choice but to fulfill his mission as The One. As he spends more time with the ghosts, he realizes that they are not scary at all and even enjoys their company. In the end Hesus got the key and opened the portal
A group of disparate women find comfort in one another when faced with heart-wrenching tragedy in this moving story. After a terrorist bombing at an airport kills many innocent victims, the lives of the family members who lost their loved ones are forever changed. In their anger, grief and disbelief, eight women of different generations and backgrounds forge a bond.
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.
Melinda is a new substitute teacher at the Malawig Elementary School, located in a poor remote barrio. A young university graduate, her family expects her to look for work abroad, but in her idealism she takes on a challenging job in the provincial public school, which lacks resources and has corrupt personnel. The heavy monsoon rains and the nearby NPAs also add to her difficulties. The children are indifferent to their studies, having been affected by the hopelessness around them. Melinda tries to motivate them by capitalizing on their interest and talent in singing. She takes advantage of a funding opportunity to enter them in a choral contest. She encounters some resistance, however, from the school administration and from the parents of her students. Furthermore, the death of one of the choral group’s members at the hands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines casts a pall on their once joyful preparations. Melinda, however, constantly tries to rise above these challenges.
It is the time of El Niño, a season ruled by superstition and fear. The rain is long in coming, the ground has cracked up dry. The ricestalks are thin and sickly. Villagers go hungry. And a boy dies from a snakebite. The adults splinter. Some pray. Others join a cult to appease earth spirits and wait for the ada, the ricefield spirit goddess of bountiful harvest who dances naked on moonlit nights and signals the need for a virgin’s sacrifice. There are fence sitters, equally pro-church and pro-cult. A landlord’s steward enforces his master’s usury on hapless farmers. A self-righteous priest says rain must first be deserved. Two young women fight for the right to do with their bodies as they please. A bastard boy and a blind girl come of age. Yesterday, they were children.
"Kontrabida" is about an actress named Anita whose onscreen persona merges with her real life.
