ABANSE
by Chad Vidanes

LOGLINE
The night before local elections, a single mother takes her son to a final campaign rally to get his lost scholarship back — unaware that in the midst of the dense crowd, a morbid disaster awaits them.

SYNOPSIS
Flor, a single mother, starts an early morning to work as an organizer for the campaign rally of re-electionist Rudolfo Tolaran. As she toils in the campaign grounds, packing up food and drinks she could not consume herself — Flor receives a phone call. It is from the school of her son, Ryan. As she comes to the school, she is told that her son has been dropped from the list of scholars, for reasons unknown, even to the school heads themselves. Seeking the reason why and looking for ways to get the scholarship back immediately, Flor brings Ryan to the campaign rally for the re-election of Rudolfo, the previous mayor and the sponsor of Ryan’s scholarship. Rumors that a promised money gift will be given to the attendees was spread, which makes Flor more eager to come, not knowing the danger they will be facing. The political rally turns into a tragic stampede that separates the mother and son, and the searching begins

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED
by Noni Abao

LOGLINE
Three land rights activists contend with their volatile notions of home amid terror and red-tagging in Cagayan Valley.

SYNOPSIS
Cagayan Valley serves as the dedicated workplace of a development worker, the chosen home of a jailed mother-artist-activist, and the birthplace of a slain peace consultant. Yet, they find themselves unable to return home: one is relentlessly pursued by the government, another is imprisoned, and the third is killed on his journey home. The film revisits their lives, explores their disrupted connections to home and celebrates their enduring resilience in the face of adversity.

CHILD NO. 82
by Tim Rone Villanueva

LOGLINE
During the wake of the biggest action-fantasy movie star of Philippine Cinema, a persevering 16-year-old high school student needs to prove that he is his 82nd child

SYNOPSIS
The biggest action-fantasy movie star of Philippine Cinema, MAXIMO “BOY KANA” MANIEGO JR., has passed away; and the ultimate goal of MAX – the 16-year-old rumored illegitimate son of the late icon – is to prove that he is his 82nd child before the end of the public visiting hours. This will help Max claim his inheritance to support his pregnant teenage girlfriend and their baby.

Will Max reach the casket before the clock strikes 12, if he needs to stand in line with hundreds of fans and villains to claim his place as Child No. 82?

CINEMARTYRS
by Sari Dalena

LOGLINE
A young filmmaker is bent on recreating forgotten massacres from Philippine history, but when she begins shooting at a site where 1,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered, angry spirits are awakened and the lives of her team and the local villagers are put in peril.

SYNOPSIS
A young filmmaker sets out to recreating forgotten massacres from Philippine history but when she is challenged by the committee that is belittling her skills, she agrees to go to the present-day war-torn locations where the atrocities occurred. Overcoming one obstacle after another with her small crew, when they begin shooting at a site where a thousand men, women and children were slaughtered, angry spirits are awakened and the lives of her team and the villagers are put in peril; the brutal traumas of history echoing to the present day.

HABANG NILALAMON NG HYDRA ANG KASAYSAYAN
by Dustin Celestino

LOGLINE
“Habang Nilalamon ng Hydra ang Kasaysayan” (As the Hydra Devours History) tells the story of four Filipinos grappling with their place in the world and struggling to come to terms with the new realities they are faced with. The film is an existentialist drama where people who have lost hope attempt to find meaning in an absurd, indifferent, and paradoxical universe.

SYNOPSIS
DAVID writes a children’s book – “Habang Nilalamon ng Hydra ang Kasaysayan” – about a hydra wreaking havoc in Manila, but he will become the target of the very lies he criticizes in his book.

KIKO retires from work as a campaign manager believing that his obligation to the country is over, but the political battle he thought he has stepped away from begins to invade his domestic life.

BEA, the daughter of a desaparecido, starts attending church in an attempt to seek in the divine

the justice that was deprived from her family. But her perceived enemy enters her life in an

unexpected way, making forgiving and forgetting an impossible task.

MELA prepares to protect her father from the cases he might face due to his past crimes. But his day of reckoning – that Mela has long anticipated – seems like it will never come.

OPEN ENDINGS
Written by Keavy Eunice Vicente
For the direction of Nigel Santos

LOGLINE
The friendship of four queer women, who are exes-turned-best friends, is put to the test when one of them makes an impulsive and potentially life-changing decision.

SHORT SYNOPSIS
Hannah, Mihan, Charlie, and Kit are queer women in their 30s who have dated each other at different times in their lives. Now, they’ve built a strong and wonderful ride-or-die friendship. When one of them makes a surprising life decision, it stirs up old emotions, reveals secrets, and prompts unexpected confessions, testing the strength of the ties that bind them.

PADAMLÁGAN (Nightlight)
by Jenn Romano

LOGLINE
Limang araw bago ang Martial Law, ang pagbagsak ng Tulay ng Colgants sa Naga ay nagbigay daan kay Doring, isang ama, na harapin ang kanyang pinakamalalim na takot — ang pagkawala ng kaniyang anak na si Ivan sa isang trahedya na nagbabalik-tanaw sa dilim ng nakaraan.

Five days before the declaration of Martial Law, the collapse of the Colgante Bridge in Naga forced Doring, a father, to confront his deepest fear — the loss of his son, Ivan, in a tragedy that recalls the darkness of the past.

SYNOPSIS
Ilang bago ang ideklara ni Ferdinand Marcos Sr. ang Batas Militar sa buong bansa, isang trahedya ang nangyari sa Lungsod ng Naga. Bago ang dumaan ang bangkang pamprusisyon ng Birhen ng Peñafrancia sa Ilog Naga, bumagsak ang tulay ng Colgante, na ikinasawi ng higit sa 130 katao.

Sa lambong ng dalawang pangyayaring ito ay isang kuwento ng paghahanap ni Doring sa kaniyang nawawalang anak na si Ivan. Sa panahon ng paghahanap na ito ay paunti-unti at dahan-dahan ring muling pagsalaysay sa mga mumunting naratibo ng pamilya, lipunan, pulitika, ideolohiya, relihiyon, mga personal na pangarap at panaginip, na laman ng mga ugnayan ng panahon iyon.

Sa paghahanap ni Doring sa anak, naroon ang pagtuklas, pagkilanlan, pag-unawa, pagtanggap at pag-alay.

A few days before Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared Martial Law across the country, a tragedy struck in the City of Naga. Just before the procession pagoda of Our Lady of Peñafrancia passed through, the Colgante Bridge collapsed, resulting in the death of more than 130 people.

Amidst the veil of these two events is the story of Doring’s search for his missing son, Ivan. Along this search, there is a gradual and slow recounting of the small narratives of family, society, politics, idealogy, religion, personal dreams, and aspirations that defined the connections of that time.

In Doring’s search for her son, there is discovery, recognition, understanding, acceptance, and oblation.

PAGLILITIS
Panulat ni Raymund Barcelon
Direksyon ni Cheska Marfori

LOGLINE
Years after experiencing sexual harassment at her workplace, a former executive assistant is persuaded by a passionate lawyer to file a case against her rich and highly respected boss.

SYNOPSIS
After years of getting traumatized from pervasive sexual harassment at her workplace, Jonalyn Samuel, now quietly lives as a recluse in her provincial town. A passionate lawyer finds and persuades Jonalyn  to file a case against her former employer, the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the country. She hesitates, but the lawyer explains that times have changed and the woke generation will greatly help in pursuing justice. Convinced, Jonalyn takes a risk and finds hope through the overwhelming support she receives through social media. But, the platform that initially gives her assurance soon becomes a toxic space that presents her as a heartless perpetrator instead of a victim.

REPUBLIKA NG PIPOLIPINAS
A film by Renei Dimla

LOGLINE
When the local government threatens to evict her from her own land, a farmer renounces her Filipino citizenship and builds her own micronation.

SYNOPSIS
Cora, a disillusioned farmer in her 40s, declares herself as the president of her own micronation to protest against the government’s plan to take her land and home. Her solitary act of defiance divides people. She inspires some while gaining the unfair judgement of many who question her motives and her sanity.

When a new government project hastens her displacement, Cora and the people who believe in her cause set out to reveal the webbed conspiracy to cover up the widespread corruption that extends far beyond the confines of the small town. As they work against the clock and with looming threats against their freedom, Cora and the citizens of Republika ng Pipolipinas prove that what truly makes a great nation is not its land nor its history, but the courage of its people.

WARLA
Directed by Kevin Z. Alambra
Written by: Arah Badayos

LOGLINE
A group of transgender women belonging to a gang kidnaps foreign men to fund their gender-affirming surgery, not knowing that their quest to free themselves to be who they are may end with them in prison.

SYNOPSIS
Young Kitkat is taken in by Joice, who heads a group of transgender women who are kidnapping foreigners to fund gender-affirming surgeries that would finally allow them to be their true selves. Kitkat, who has never experienced acceptance from a family, finally finds it in the women, but she has to come to terms with the group’s violent methods.