Auraeus Solito

Basal Banar

Auraeus Solito

Solito returns to his hometown on Palawan Island and captures the sacred rituals and daily lives of its people on film. We see the ongoing disintegration of the islanders’ way of life due to the intrusion of multinational corporations and other forces, and the resulting anger. The echoes of percussion and rhythm of the images unite harmoniously, drawing the viewer into the extraordinary world of this film.

Impeng Negro

Auraeus Solito

Odel Hernandez, Thou Reyes

An ode to Rogelio Sikat’s classic Filipino short story “Impeng Negro,” about a boy who is both Filipino and Black.

Pisay

Auraeus Solito

Eugene Domingo, Gammy Lopez

The film, set in the 1980s, is centred upon a young student, from 1982 as a freshman and ending in 1986. The background is the last years of Martial Law in the Philippines where the Marcos dictatorship was at its peak.

Palawan Fate

Auraeus Solito

Alessandra de Rossi, Clifford Bañagale

Punay was born with wounds on her feet so that she cannot step on the earth. Her brother, Angkarang, carries her through a hammock, as he searches the changing landscape of Palawan in hoping to find a healer who can cure Punay. Different people help him carry his sister along the way- a woman looking for her husband, a fisherman who lost his boat, and a young man who is searching for himself- and each one meets their fate.

Suring at ang Kuk-ok

Auraeus Solito

Rowena Basco, Eury Zulueta

Suring casts a spell of immense beauty, but is persecuted by humanity. She retreats to the forests, far from the prying eyes of humans. There, she befriends the Kuk-ok, a creature who can morph into any form.

Tuli

Auraeus Solito

Desiree del Valle, Bembol Roco

The daughter of a circumciser rebels and challenges the status quo when she is asked to take over her father's job.

The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros

Auraeus Solito

Nathan Lopez, Soliman Cruz

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.

Rizal sa Dapitan

Tikoy Aguiluz

Albert Martinez, Amanda Page

Dr. Jose Rizal was exiled in Dapitan from 1892-1896. These were his last four years. Dapitan served as his prison cell. He always compared it to “a beautiful cage” where he is imprisoned. This was the longest imprisonment Rizal ever had. He became so lost by those times, but still he did not lose his mind. Even there, he continued studying and discovering things. He continued his conversation with his friends, scientists and doctors outside the country.

Esprit de Corps

Auraeus Solito

Sandino Martin, JC Santos

Many have been aspiring for the position of Major Mac Favila, who is every cadet's ideal officer considering he is sharp, snappy, witty, and most of all, the most masculine among the school's many officers. Private Abel Sarmiento, who was abused when he was a child and Cain Fujika, a Filipino-Japanese whose mother worked abroad as a japayuki are the top contenders for his position.

Boy

Auraeus Solito

Aeious Asin, Aries Pena

A poet sells his collection of comic books and action figures in order to afford to hire a male stripper on New Years Eve.

Pagbabalik sa Tribo

Howie Severino

Howie Severino, Auraeus Solito

Howie Severino, who grew up on the American East Coast, returned to the Philippines and found work as a journalist. As he follows the story of filmmaker Auraeus Solito’s rediscovery of his tribal Palawan roots, Severino likewise interrogates his own notions of seeking identity and community as a Filipino.

Philippine New Wave: This Is Not a Film Movement

Khavn

Adolfo Alix Jr., Ato Bautista

Documentary profiling the directors involved in the loose Philippine New Wave filmmaking movement.

60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero

Edmund Yeo, Oliver Whitehead

An anthology of one-minute films created by 60 international filmmakers on the theme of the death of cinema. Intended as an ode to 35mm, the film was screened one time only on a purpose-built 20x12 meter public cinema screen in the Port of Tallinn, Estonia, on 22 December 2011. A special projector was constructed for the event which allowed the actual filmstrip to be burnt at the same time as the film was shown.

Baybayin

Auraeus Solito

Assunta de Rossi, Adrian Sebastian

A man gets involved with two mystic sisters who happened to save him from dying ashore.

Beyond the Mainstream: A Salute to Philippine Independent Cinema

Nick Deocampo, Teddy Co

Lamberto V. Avellana, Mike Alcazaren

With interviews with National Artists Lamberto Avellana and Lino Brocka and myriad talents from the Mowelfund community such as Nick Deocampo and Raymond Red, Beyond Mainstream documents the robust energy of nascent independent filmmaking in the country in the 80s. Based on Nick Deocampo's first book Short Film: The Emergence of a New Philippine Cinema (1985), it features the first Independent Film and Video Festival held in the Wave Cinema in Cubao, Quezon City, the first video theater in the country.