Stories of this year's picks deal with a myriad of topics set in diverse places from dramas to romantic comedies to action, from Chinatown, Quiapo, Corregidor, a call center office, Nueva Vizcaya, Camotes Islands, to an upscale gated subdivision.
The festival will be held on November 10-19 in three cinemas: Glorietta, Robinsons Galleria, and Trinoma.
Films in the Cinema One Plus Category:
KABISERA
Directed by Borgy Torre
Starring: Joel Torre, Meryll Soriano, Bernard Palanca, Art Acuña, Bing Pimentel, Ketchup Eusebio, and Carlo Cruz
Action. One man's transformation from a naive, innocent man to a ruthless father, friend and eventually, a drug dealer. Set in Bacolod. Negros.
WOMAN OF THE RUINS
Directed by Keith
Starring: Alessandra de Rossi, Art Acuña, Elizabeth Oropesa, Peque Gallaga, and Chanel Latorre
Mystery Drama. On a storm-ravaged island that has seen its share of tragedy, a person who has been assumed dead reappears and ignites a frenzy of reactions, ranging from ecstatic religious fervor to fear.
ALAMAT NI CHINA DOLL
Directed by Adolf Alix Jr.
Starring: Cesar Montano and Maja Salvador
Drama. Helen lives with her grandmother in an idyllic island down south, at 25, she’s about to graduate from high school and start a new life. Things take a drastic turn when a journalist publishes an article about "China Doll."
BLU BUSTAMANTE
Directed by Miko Livelo
Starring: Joem Bascon, Dimples Romana, Jun Sabayton, and Jhiz Manabat and
Family Drama Comedy. An OFW is suddenly jobless in Japan. A friend introduces him to a Sentai director who convinces him to be a double for Blue Force, a super hero character in an upcoming Japanese super hero show.
SITIO
Directed by Mes De Guzman
Starring: RK Bagatsing, Arnold Reyes and Adrian Sebastian.
Psychological Drama. A family from the city returns to the province in search of a simpler life, they find more problems and setbacks instead.
Will be shot in Nueva Vizcaya.
Films in the Cinema One Currents category
ANGUSTIA
Directed by Kristian Cordero
Starring: Alex Medina, Maria Isabel Lopez, and Michelle Smith
Period- Regional. Set in 19th Century Bicolandia, a Spanish friar falls for a woman of indigenous origins. Until paranoia drives the Spanish friar to
murder
SATURDAY NIGHT CHILLS
Directed by Ian Loreños
Starring: Joseph Marco, Rayver Cruz, and Mateo Guidicelli
BENDOR
Directed by Ralston Jover
Starring: Vivian Velez
Drama. 40 days before the annual Good Friday procession of the miraculous 400-year-old Black Nazarene statue at the Quiapo church in Manila, an early morning mass is disrupted when a candle vendor finds a blood-soaked box with a dead fetus inside.
SHIFT
Directed by Siege Ledesma
Starring: Yeng Constantino and Felix Roco
Love Story/Drama. When an idealistic, tomboyish, call center slacker is mentored by a pragmatic, gay senior agent, an unconventional relationship blossoms that would challenge their most personal convictions
A PHILIPPINO STORY
Directed by Benjie Garcia
Starring: Mark Gil and Jun Jun Quintaña
Drama. A cautionary tale about the dangers of male prostitution
ISLANDS
Directed by Whammy Alcazaren
Starring: Benjamin Alves, Luis Alandy, Mercedes Cabral, and Anita Linda
Experimental/Science Fiction. A spacecraft lands through the geographies of the fictional film, ISLANDS and the reality in which it is being filmed as a movie.
BUKAS NA LANG SAPAGKAT GABI NA
Directed by Jet Leyco
Starring: Nika Santiago, Raul Morit, and Dan de Guzman
A four-part narrative of three related occurrences caused by tragic accident of a Filipino-Spanish priest.
ISKALAWAGS
Directed by Keith Deligero
Featuring the children from Camotes Island
Comedy. An aching tale of friendship, youth, and a journey towards self-discovery in this small-town coming of age story. Intoy, takes us back to show us how those teenage days felt like. To be shot in Camotes Island, Cebu.
ANG PAGBABALAT NG AHAS
Directed by Timmy Harn
Starring: Jaime Fabregas, Liza Lorena, Mervin and Kay Brondial
Genre film/comedy. A lower middle-class family moves in to an upper middle-class village where a mad scientist is keeping a snake-man.
RIDDLES OF THE HOMECOMING
Directed by Arnel Mardoquio
Starring: Fe Hyde, Perry Dizon, and Madz Garcia
Drama. The Lumads and Moros of Mindanao have a traditional belief that when a person dies his soul goes back to his homeland.