An assassin, a porn dubber and a transgender. Three souls. One explicit illusion. To find the ultimate joy in their empty lives. A safe haven, where passion and love mean humanity, ecstasy means enlightenment; and the soul is the ultimate arbiter of the truth.
A land-grabbing tycoon and a former sexy male actor are in a tight race for mayor in a small town. When violence erupts, Emmy, a teacher, runs into the wilderness with a ballot box, the last copy of the election result.
Ace, 23, and Miko, 17, desperately want to become famous actors but it seems the Universe has a different plan for their lives.
A pessimistic uninspired middle-aged artist finds spark with a millennial photographer who leads her on a path of creative and sexual reawakening.
A fourteen-year-old farm boy’s life is suddenly upended when a video of him brutally attacking a classmate goes viral.
When an alien comes back to take him, a mouthless young man's life twists and turns as his memories untangle.
The title “Kamera Obskura” is a Filipino spelling of the latin “Camera Obscura” which simply means “dark room”. The film’s concept adheres to formalist cinema, where the filmmaker’s thesis is to make a semblance of a vintage film seemingly produced sometime in the late 1920s to early 1930s in the Philippines. The thesis is to conjure up a film from a period that did not really exist in Philippine cinema’s historical cultural heritage as we know it, such as a pseudo-expressionist / experimental Filipino cinema of the silent film era. It is a film within a film. The narrative plays with the idea of a retro-futurist world where a prisoner locked away in a dark chamber for over two decades only sees the reality of the world outside through the small hole in his cell, which projects an image of the city on his wall, the phenomenon of the “camera obscura”.
A socio-realist drama-comedy film, it follows a seemingly usual day in the life of Loida Malabanan as she embarks on yet another shooting day of a soap opera as an extra. As the shoot goes on, we get a glimpse of the truth in the ruling system of the production as well as the exploitation of the marginalized laborers like her.
Elizabeth, a self-made woman in her late 40s, is bent on living on her own for the rest of her days. After her mother passes from years of suffering from a lingering illness, she meets Jon, a man 20 years her junior, who convinces her that love knows no age and that there are no limits to life’s starts. They embark on a May-December affair that is very promising, until Liz realizes that Jon has dreams that she cannot be part of.
Maxi, a boy on the cusp of his teens, is already comfortable with his homosexual feelings, with acceptance from his family. When Maxi is assaulted one evening, Victor, a police officer, comes to his aid. Maxi soon develops a crush on Victor, who shows a platonic affection for the young lad.
Hendrix dreams of hip-hop greatness, but he’s spiraling down a rabbit-hole of crime and poverty until he meets Doc, an old poet still haunted by his martial law past. Can they turn each other’s lives around before they’re swallowed by their circumstance?
Ordinary People is a family portrait of Jane, 16, and her boyfriend, Aries, who live on their own in the chaotic streets of Manila. Surviving as pickpockets, the lives of the young couple change when they suddenly become teenage parents. But not even a month into parenthood, their child is stolen from them. In order to retrieve the child, the young couple is forced to take desperate measures.
A small-town midwife’s preparation for a job interview is disrupted by series of unfortunate turn of events.
Kasal is a slice of life drama of a gay couple whose resolve to stay together is challenged as they attend a wedding. It also is an examination on how a gay couple navigates through the different institutions in Philippine society.
When Paulino Mungcal and his co-worker in a lahar-filled quarry unexpectedly dig up the remains of his 2-year daughter Marikit, they discover that she showed no signs of decay. Could this be a miracle, and could she -- despite death – cure the sick? Inspired by whatever healing power the deceased child may have, Pol asks the church to declare her a saint. But how, when her resurgence stirs up emotions buried by time, and shores up questions about pure love, guilt, sin and salvation?
An awkward 6-footer teen is forced to learn and play volleyball half-heartedly when the Catholic school she transferred to did not have a basketball team. Everything changes when she meets their star player.
A man’s belief in reality is tested when suspects are accused of a crime they believe to not have committed.
A fading social media influencer and a struggling musician exploit each other in a not-so-fake relationship.
A painter goes on an exile after finding out he has Guillain Barre Syndrome, a rare disorder that prevents him from painting.
A driver is sent on a simple errand: to pick up a designer t-shirt and a tin of viagra for his boss, who is shacked up in a hotel with his lover. Simple as it sounds, the road trip crisscrosses the chasms of time, class, and character.
