A princess seeks refuge in a convent to escape an arranged marriage. A young prince tries to make sense of his station. A giant bird mysteriously appears after centuries of absence. Masla A Papanok (Ave) mixes history, myth, memory and magic to reimagine the Spanish colonial period in Mindanao like never before.
Born in 1976, in Cotabato, Southern Philippines, Gutierrez Mangansakan II is a keen observer of Southeast Asian cinema and one of the leading figures of the Regional Cinema New Wave movement in the Philippines. He has produced, written, and directed prize winning films such as “Limbunan” (The Bridal Quarter) which closed the Venice Critics Week section in 2010, “Cartas de la Soledad” (Letters of Solitude, 2011), “Qiyamah” (The Reckoning, 2012), “Daughters of the Three-Tailed Banner” (2015), and “Forbidden Memory” (2016).
Lisang is two years late. After dying from a complication of diabetes in her 60s, Lisang has overstayed in her waiting room in purgatory, occasionally causing other souls trouble for her own entertainment. But today her waiting ends. Today, she is finally set to crossover and her room is to be leased to a new tenant: Manolo, her newly deceased ex-boyfriend.
Dan Villegas started his career as a cinematographer for Cathy Garcia-Molina, Mae Cruz-Alviar, Joyce Bernal, and Antoinette Jadaone. His first full-length film is the 2010 Cinemalaya coming-of-age Mayohan, which won Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography – for Villegas himself. In 2014, he directed “English Only, Please” at the Metro Manila Film Festival – and it was the beginning of his career as a director. He has since directed 10 movies. “Hintayan ng Langit” is his return to his independent cinema roots.
Dog Days follows the agony of being Michael Jordan Ulili, a teenager without family, a basketball superstar without a team. As he uncovers the myth of his destiny, he speeds into his own road to ruin, a dark path where crystal meth and blood magic ultimately test his capability to sustain a life that he doesn’t know what to do with.
Timmy Harn has made short films that have participated in local and international film festivals. One of them, “Class Picture” (as Tito & Tito with filmmaker Gym Lumbera) was screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival New Waves Program. It also won Best Experimental Film at the 2011 Gawad CCP Short Film Festival. His first feature “Reptilia in Suburbia” received several nominations in the 2013 Cinema One Originals Film Festival. The film is also an official selection in the Olhar de Cinema-Curitiba International Film Festival 2014 and had its North American premiere at the San Diego Asian Film Festival.
Set in the mid-90s, the film tells the story of Billie, a troublemaker from the big city, who finds herself exiled to San Isidro to live with her spinster aunt who is also the town’s religion teacher. Determined to change her ways and get through the last year of high school without incident, Billie hides herself from the world until she meets Emma, the ambitious, star student who coaxes Billie out of her shell. They soon fall in love but things get complicated when Emma finds out that she’s pregnant. Together, they explore the fleeting nature of love and life on this journey of growth, laughter and music.
Samantha Lee is a filmmaker who advocates for better representation of women and the LGBTQ+ community in local cinema. Her first film, “Baka Bukas” has won various awards both here and abroad, most notably winning the “Emerging Talent Award” at Outfest 2017- the biggest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world.
The protagonists’s father is an OFW since the age of 21. In this film, he is approaching 60. He also has twelve children and the central figure in the story is one of them. She rediscovers her home through family and memories as she goes back to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
Aleia Garcia is a filmmaker from the Philippines. Her first documentary, Yanbu, competed in the longest running short film festival in Asia,
Gawad CCP for Independent Film and Video and won 3rd place in the documentary section. It also competed and won Best Screenplay in Nabunturan Film Exhibition held at Compostella Valley, Philippines. Spring by the Sea is her first film.
Living in a remote corner of a Philippine island, Agustin
is a tribesman who loves to sing, but never had the opportunity to learn to read or write. When his boss cheats him out of his wages seemingly for the thousandth time, 40-year-old Agustin decides to enroll in grade 1. The children’s world is playful and simple, and a welcome respite from the world outside.
After graduating from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Film, Grace received a grant from the European Union as part of their project entitled “In Defense of Land and Life: Addressing Human Rights Concerns of Indigenous Peoples in Resource Conflict Areas” to produce a mid-length documentary film. As a follow up to this project, she immersed in the same community for more than eight years while producing the feature-length documentary film A is for Agustin.
A lone stranger broadcasts fragments of life he has experienced from different time and space, hoping to make a connection and communicate with other beings of life. Like a time capsule, the documentary contains artifacts of the first Filipinos, a family, a political upheaval, and the existence / non-existence of God.
Jet Leyco is a critically-acclaimed filmmaker based in Manila. He has directed four feature films in different genres that were exhibited in various festivals locally and abroad. He has directed and photographed over a hundred TV documentaries for the biggest media conglomerate in the Philippines – ABS-CBN.
He graduated Cum Laude in Far Eastern University in 2009. Leyco currently teaches Film Appreciation at the Asia Pacific Film Institute.
A 101-year-old pious and pragmatic transwoman uses her 100,000-peso government reward for centenaries for one last chance at love.
Norvin De los Santos is a writer-director from Mandaluyong City. After graduating with a Business Administration degree from Jose Rizal University in 2013, he took up Basic Motion Picture production at the Asia Pacific Film Institute in 2016.
His first short film Papang (Father, 2016) won Best Film at the San Juan Film Camp, and was in competition at the Cinema One Originals short film program. His second short film Hele ng Maharlika (Lullaby of the Free, 2019) won a Special Mention award at the Cinemalaya Film Festival, and was screened in exhibition at the Active Vista Human Rights Film Festival. He participated in the Active Vista Film Lab, where he developed his upcoming short film Isang Daa’t Isang Mariposa (101 Butterflies, 2019).
Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss tells the story of a salesgirl who discovers the ultimate secret to regularization.
Sonny Calvento is a director, writer and producer from the Philippines. He was a fellow of the Hanoi International Film Festival Directing and Producing Studio where he was awarded Best Talent in Directing and Producing.
In 2019, he produced John Denver Trending, a film that won Best Film, NETPAC Jury Award, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Musical Score in Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. The film is set to compete and premiere internationally in Busan International Film Festival. Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss is his first short feature film.
Set in the early 2000s, Judy Free tells the story of Judy, a young girl whose reality is intruded when her father, an overseas Filipino worker, suddenly comes home as an animated doodle figure after years of being away.
Che Tagyamon is a director, editor, and animator from Manila, Philippines.
Her previous works often address the subjects of diaspora, class, and memory in relation to women’s psyche. Her hybrid short film “Judy Free” was developed at Berlinale Talents Short Form Station in 2019 and was among the grantees of the first edition of Southeast Asian Short Film Grant. She is an alumna of Busan Asian Film Academy, SGIFF SEALab, and Asean ROK’s FLY Film Lab among others.