Brillante Mendoza
A photographer is tasked to take a photo of a rare flower thriving in the mountain, but he discovers women trapped in a hidden brothel for illegal loggers.
The married life of Sabel and Brian was cut short when three men rape her and kill Brian in their honeymoon. Surviving from the crime, she vows to let the culprits experience hell.
A woman and her husband come home to an old ancestral house she inherited from her grandma. As days go by, they realize something evil is living with them in the house.
Set against the backdrop of the Philippines Government’s crackdown on illegal drugs, a SWAT-led police force launches an operation to arrest Abel, one of the biggest druglords in Manilla. Police Officer Espino and Elijah, a small-time pusher turned informant, provide the intelligence for the operation which quickly escalates into a violent and heavely-armed confrontation in the slums between the SWAT and Abel’s gang. Before the investigators arrive at the crime scene, Espino and Elijah walk off with Abel’s backpack full of money and methamphetamine.
Two sex workers, a seventeen-year old boy, Gino, and a young mother, Marie, are hired to do a pornographic film. The day before All Saints’ Day, the two travels to a far-flung travel for the shooting. During the shooting, they are made to do acts which have not been agreed upon. Feeling trapped and isolated, the two will be pushed to their limits, to the edge of their dignity. It is a morality tale set in an act judged by society as immoral. It posits the question: When you take away one’s respect and dignity, however, insignificant it may be to us, what is then left of that person?
Ma’ Rosa has four children. She owns a small convenient store in a poor neighborhood of Manila where everybody likes her. To make ends meet, Rosa and her husband, Nestor, resell small amounts of narcotics on the side. One day, they get arrested. Rosa’s children are ready to do anything to buy their parents’ freedom from the corrupt police.
This omnibus film brings together three globally acclaimed directors from Asia with a common theme 'Living Together in Asia' to depict the lives of characters who journey between Japan, Cambodia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Brillante Mendoza grapples with the issue of loss of national identity and home, with a story set in the Obihiro area of Hokkaido and Manila in the Philippines. Isao Yukisada directs a story in Malaysia where the Japanese army was once stationed but is now home to many Japanese retirees living out their remaining years. An elderly man has parted from his family in Japan to live alone in Penang, but when a new helper comes to the house, he slowly opens his mind and an unexpected bond forms between the two. Finally director Sotho Kulikar conveys a beautiful but heart-rending love story between a Japanese man and Cambodian woman that unfolds across past and present against the backdrop of Cambodia's civil war.
Five award-winning ASEAN film directors celebrate Southeast Asian art through this collection of short films. As an omnibus of short films, is inspired by the art collection found at the National Gallery Singapore, Each of the five directors – Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Brillante Mendoza, Eric Khoo, Ho Yuhang and Joko Anwar – handpicked a masterpiece from the 19th and 20th century as inspiration for their short films.
"Ninja Party" is a coming of age story of two teenage coeds who find themselves in a comprising situation when they get involved in secret debauchery.
"Balut Country" follows the journey of Jun, an heir to the duck farm left to him by his late father. He must decide whether to sell the property to secure his future, or spare the land's loyal caretakers of inevitable displacement.
French Cinema Mon Amour is an ensemble film in which each contributor brings their own voice, their own particular approach, their culture, and their language to produce a portrait of French cinema.
Southeast Asia Cinema - When the rooster crows is a voice of diversity reaching for change. Brillante Mendoza, Eric Khoo, Garin Nugroho, Pen Ek Ratanaruang give voice to a region rich with traditions, ethnic groups, languages, politics, and religions. It is cinema, at its purest form, fighting for freedom of expression, documenting real lives of ordinary people, giving voice to the underdogs and the outcasts. The amalgamation of these aspects gives birth to an ultra-neo-realistic cinema language currently unique to films from this region.
The biggest names in the country’s film industry speak up about the evolution of Philippine films and how it has transformed today’s industry.
The film follows two competing television news teams as they chase a variety of leads, gradually zeroing in on an impending and possibly apocalyptic storm, and a middle-aged teacher who may or may not be possessed by a demon. Writer and actress Raquel Villavicencio plays the ruthless head of the top-rated network, coming off as a Tagalog variation on Faye Dunaway's fabled character in Network. Her team has eschewed covering politics in favour of triedand- true tabloid fodder: demonic possession.
Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
A group of friends, sharing a passion for cinema, assemble in Corregidor, a small island in Manila Bay that has preserved relics from the Pacific War as its foremost attractions. There, they explore the island and retire in a rustic mansion used once to make silent films. Outside the city, the woods and sea become a meeting place for more movie personalities and it all becomes a celebration of what was left behind.
The film is a collection of one-minute short films created by 60 filmmakers from around the world on the theme of the death of cinema.
Documentary profiling the directors involved in the loose Philippine New Wave filmmaking movement.
Lola Sepa's grandson has been killed by a cell phone snatcher. Despite being devastated by the sudden violence, she must bear the burden of making the funeral arrangements. She and her family are poor, and there is not enough money for the coffin nor the legal pursuit against the suspected murderer. But the elderly woman is ready to even seek a bank loan to assure both a proper burial and justice for her beloved grandson. Lola Puring is committed to getting her grandson Mateo out of jail, although he has been accused of senselessly murdering Lola Sepa's grandson. But the poor aged woman doesn't have the bail money. Each time she visits her grandson in prison to bring him proper meals, it breaks her heart to see him wasting away behind bars with countless others. At the first court hearing, the two grandmothers must face one another. Both frail and poor, each is determined to do everything necessary for her grandson. The future of the case is dependent on grandmotherly love...
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.
A digital feature has five episodes that all deal with wild gay fantasies involving men in uniform. It starts with "Biyahe," about a jilted taxi driver and his jealous passenger who find comfort in each other's lovesick arms. The second episode is "Linya," about a lonely homeowner whose phone conks out. Two handsome repairmen arrive and they end up engaging in a dizzying threesome. Next is "Laro," about four basketball players who are taking a shower in the locker room after an intense game, and a shy guy who takes a peek at them and later joins in the fun. "Bilis" is about a hunky delivery boy in a hurry who delivers pizza to a bored yuppie who is working overtime in his office. They get instantly attracted upon seeing each other. The last episode is "Bantay," about a horny security guard in the graveyard shift. He sees two lovers fighting. Rhyme dumps Jon and Jon finds solace in the arms of the easy going guard.
Thelma (Cherry Pie Picache), together with her husband Dado (Dan Alvaro) and teenage sons Gerald (Alwyn Uytingco) and Yuri (Jiro Manio), are a poor urban family hired by a local foster care facility to provide temporary home and care to abandoned babies pending the latter's formal adoption. The inevitable separation is heart-rending for the foster family. Thelma's current foster child John-John (Kier Segismundo) is to be turned over to his adoptive American parents. Every moment with the 3-year-old John-John becomes more precious as Thelma goes through the day fulfilling her motherly duties for the last time—bathing John-John, feeding him, and bringing him to school where the boy participates in a school presentation.
The mountain-dwelling Aetas have been forced to settle in the lowlands by the sudden eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. With their settlements being closer to the government-funded schools of the Kapampangan townships, the Aeta children now have the opportunity to study. Jonalyn, one of the elementary school graduates of the ceremony depicted in the confused introduction and an Aeta, seeks to teach her elders to read and write a day before the National Elections. With Jonalyn's effort, the Aetas, for the very first time, have participated in the democratic process that has existed in the Philippines since the early part of the 20th century. source: http://oggsmoggs.blogspot.com/2006/11/manoro-2006.html
The story is set in Guagua, Pampanga a decade after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo which ravaged the province with lahar. It follows the lives of Rodolfo "Mang Rudy" Manansala, a woodcarver, and his three daughters and their relationships with the people close to them in the span of seven summers.
Following the death of his father and a chance meeting with an abusive romance novelist, a masseur working in a gay massage parlor struggles to make sense of his unfulfilling relationships while simultaneously assisting his mother in preparing his father for burial. Twenty-year-old Iliac may not be the best masseur in the parlor, but when he catches the eye of a cold and calculating romance novelist looking for a cheap thrill, the icy indifference displayed by his paying lover does little more to warm the spirits than his sexually charged but emotionally distant girlfriend. Despite the resentment Iliac feels towards his late father for abandoning the family and embarking on a suicidal alcohol binge, the lovelorn youth nevertheless makes the journey home to be there for his grieving mother in her time of need.
An action film starring Jestoni Alarcon based on the radio drama by Rey Langit serialized in DZRH.
Baleleng, an orphan, wished upon a star to find her parents, Little did she know that this same star who lead her to meet Perlita, her guardian - a golden mermaid. With the star as her guide, Baleleng embarks on her quest to find her family.
Nao Tsuyama, a disabled athlete, refuses to let his articifical leg hinder his dream to become a professional boxer. His remarkable journey takes him from Japan to the Philippines, and specifically the celebrated ‘Gensan’ quarter which has spawned worldwide stars such as the legendary Manny Pacquiao.
