Cinemalaya Foundation

Cynical filmmakers plan on producing a bleak, independent film dealing with poverty and prostitution in the hopes of scoring free travel to international film festivals.

At the twilight of her life, Mamang struggles against the senility and dementia of old age to be with her son Ferdie, who she suspects is set to teach and leave for another province. But as she grapples further, the more her condition worsens until she is haunted by the ghosts of her past. As she battles to drive them away, she starts reliving her bygone years, with visions that slowly turns into her reality. In the end, she is forced to decide between staying sane or letting her mind go in what has now become a labyrinth of memories.

A pessimistic uninspired middle-aged artist finds spark with a millennial photographer who leads her on a path of creative and sexual reawakening.

Kuya Wes, a timid remittance clerk, feels like he does not exist, except when he is working at the remittance center. He is mostly ignored by his younger brother Raf and his family. His days are only brightened when his customer Erika comes in every month. One day, his life changes as Erika’s overseas husband leaves her. Wes decides to help her from his own pocket. His “relationship” with Erika and his friction with Raf starts to change him.

Lolo Joseph, the stubborn and loud-mouthed patriarch, whose illness tears his two daughters Cely and Beth to make a decision whether to end or prolong his life.

College senior Intoy (Edgar Allan Guzman) is unwittingly fallen into a friend-with-benefits situation with his mysterious classmate Jenny (Mercedes Cabral). Jenny has a reputation for being promiscuous, and Intoy plays aloof to hide the fact that he’s fallen in love with her. Slowly, Jenny opens up to him as well, revealing the vulnerable center to her seemingly impervious façade. But poor, confused Intoy isn’t really equipped to deal with the feelings involved.

When their teacher disappears, school children cradle guns in their arms instead of books.

Consuelo, a ghost who has haunted Escolta for many years, finds a respite from her loneliness in Joey, a young man who has just died. As the two ghosts pass the time before Joey moves to the afterlife, Consuelo questions her reasons for staying put.

The death of Mariel was met with such hurt by her three closest friends. But it was her best friend, Carla that she leaves a most special gift, a box full of her diaries through the years. Carla has been Mariel’s friend since their high school years; they have practically shared everything in their lives together. Their two other girl friends, Sandra and Olive formed the quartet who would get together ever so often and served as a mutual support system. Despite warnings from Sandra and Olive not to read the diaries left behind by Mariel, Carla could not help herself to find out what was written on those volumes of handwritten materials. True enough, what she discovered completely shattered all her perceptions and beliefs of the friendship shared by the four women through the years.

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”.

Kiko, an 11-year-old boy left aimlessly alone with his nanny after the recent death of his mother, rekindles a long lost relationship with his father in an attempt to find a new lease on life.

Widow Susan moonlights as a resort masseuse, her second son Junior is into lapu-lapu fish-raising, while her daughter Lota and husband Dudut are into wine-making. A daily fare, 'resiko' treat, has become a threat to the family's fight for survival.

Sarah is a nurse at a Public Maternity Hospital. The hospital is abuzz with pregnant mothers of all shapes and sizes in different stages of labor. The hospital is short on staff on Christmas Day so Sarah is forced to put in a double shift. Sarah observes the women coming and going in her ward, noting who is a first-timer and who is a veteran. Meanwhile, the wards are overcrowded : two women and their babies sharing single beds while those in labor are spilling unto the hallways. Sarah takes these all in stride, her heart and mind laboring over her own personal pains.

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.

Natoy, like any other child, finds joy and excitement in the simplest of things, especially in eating halo-halo filled with pink gelatin and red sago. Things change suddenly when, as he is watching television, a news report about the ongoing war in Mindanao shows footage of a badly wounded soldier waiting to be rescued. That soldier, almost bleeding to death, is his father, Corporal Lino Bolante. This starts his journey as he and his mother Sonia wait for help that comes too late. This story does not only show how the war in Mindanao robs a child of his innocence, but also shows the shadows of war that Filipino homes confront everyday.

When a rich kid slacker meets a working class breadwinner, the two form an unlikely friendship in spite of their differences. With the pandemic and society bearing down on them, they fight back by throwing the biggest illegal rave the lockdown has ever seen.

A young soldier comes home after a siege and faces a different war.

Raped and pregnant, an OFW rids herself of unwanted baggage on the flight back home.

A struggling farmer joins forces with a local policeman to rescue his grandson and take down a marijuana cartel, triggering a deeply personal journey that tests their beliefs and integrity.

Gruff retiree Rene rejects most human contact, but begins to soften once he comes to terms with his homosexuality.