GUIDE: #SinagMaynila2018 Film Festival

Sinag Maynila was born from the vision of Mr. Wilson Tieng and Direk Brillante Mendoza’s wish to have a festival that not only inspires but educates and enlightens Filipino movie audiences. Since its launch in 2015, Sinag Maynila gave venue to internationally-acclaimed films like Zig Dulay’s Bambanti and Lawrence Fajardo’s Imbisibol.

This year, Sinag Maynila will be offering five (5) full-length films, six (6) short film entries and six (6) documentary entries.

Here are the five FULL-LENGTH FILM in competition:

1. ABOMINATION by Yam Laranas
1 hr 30 mins | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Starring Tippy Dos Santos, Maritoni Fernandez, Justine Pena, Paul Holmes

Synopsis: A young woman found unconscious in a city street claims to be another person who was brutally murdered two months earlier. She escapes from the psychiatric hospital in which she’s confined to prove her identity and find out the truth about her life, death, and murderer.

2. BOMBA (THE BOMB) by Ralston Jover
1 hr 45 mins | Drama
Starring Allen Dizon, Angelline Nicholle Sanoy, Allan Paule, Sue Prado, Kate Brios

Synopsis: Pipo makes ends meet by taking on the toughest jobs. Life is more difficult because he’s deaf. He supports himself and his teenage lover Cyril. His irate boss is getting difficult and Ben, his childhood friend wants his daughter Cyril back. Like a bomb, Pipo’s ticking to explode, anytime soon.

3. EL PESTE (THE PEST) by Richard Somes
1 hr 35 mins | Drama, Horror
Starring Mon Confiado, Jean Judith Javier, Alvin Anson, Leon Miguel, Tikoy Aguiluz

Synopsis: ABNER (Mon Confiado) lives a drab, downcast, solitary existence. His wife has abandoned him for good. Working for pest control company Panther, his job remains his sole connection to the outside world. It seems going nowhere until he meets VIOLA (Jean Judith Javier), a client who is existence is as sad as his. Wife of a vain college teacher DODIE (Alvin Anson), Viola is a trapped bird. And meeting Abner seems to give her a chance to fly free. The house, infested with rats all around, becomes a powder keg of emotions and danger as sexual tension between Abner and Viola turns to illicit affair, all happening under Dodie’s nose. In order to extend their relationship, Abner devices something that will eventually lead to a tragedy that will change their lives forever.

4. MELODRAMA/RANDOM/MELBOURNE by Matthew Victor Pastor
1 hr 22 mins | Drama
Starring Celina Yuen, Bridget O’Brien, Rachel Javier, Khoa Le

Synopsis: Presented in Glorious Cinema – O – ke! A feminist documentarian, a pickup artist, and a virgin’s lives collide. Aries Santos is a Fil-Aus feminist documentarian who is struggling to complete her new film. Her subjects are the male members of ‘©TRU MALE DYNAMICS’, a company formed to teach men how to seduce women. Meanwhile, a sex worker named Melody slays into the night. The line between reality and fiction blurs, and blood is shed on the neon-lit streets of Melbourne.

5. TALE OF THE LOST BOYS by Joselito Altarejos
1 hr 20 mins | Drama
Starring Oliver Aquino, Ta Su, Kristel Romero, Abai Bashang, Mona Hayung

Synopsis: Tale of the Lost Boys is the story of the friendship between two men — Alex (Oliver Aquino), a Filipino mechanic, and Jerry (Ta Su), a Taiwanese aborigine student. The two meet randomly when Alex flees to Taipei from Manila, upon learning that his girlfriend is pregnant. A casual conversation develops into a surprising personal connection between them. Both realize that they yearn for a more intimate connection with their mothers, since Alex’s abandoned him for a new family while Jerry is afraid that his traditional parents will reject him for being gay. The two men go on a road trip and end up at Jerry’s tribe. The trip eventually makes them reconnect with their mothers and both discover a certain sense of identity and freedom.