Ricky Orellana

Headed to the city, a man drives his jeep along an isolated rural road. He soon encounters a series of strange obstacles and barriers that will challenge him throughout his journey. As several surreal events begin to unfold he meets a few characters along the way. His isolation transforms into desolation as the people he meets appear to be hostile towards him despite his honest intentions. Slowly, he loses his innocence as he adapts to this unfamiliar and deceitful environment. Struggling for his survival every step of the way, he eventually reaches his destination, the city’s outer limits; however, the very core of his being has been twisted as a result of his experiences. When he finally stands at the boundary between the city and the vast nothingness behind him, he yet again faces another barrier, a question he asks himself… which side is the true wasteland?

Set in Philippine post-American colonialist era, where the American influence was still apparent, Ilusyon tells the story of Miguel, a young man from the countryside, who decides to visit his father, Pablo, a Modernist painter in Manila. Upon his arrival, he discovers that his father has decided to leave for the province but he opted to stay in Manila for a vacation. One day, he meets Stella, a nude model originally scheduled to pose for Miguel's father. Struck by her beauty, Miguel does the unthinkable - he pretends to be his father the painter. Developing a relationship based on a lie, things turn for the worse as Stella begets a strange skin disease that turns off Miguel. Surrounded by strange characters - a talking cow, a talkative mailman and a nosy landlady - Miguel is driven into a frenzy realization about beauty, lust, love and being true to oneself. An ambiguous ending underlines the surreal tone of the film.

Two girls and a boy of barely legal age are caught having sex on tape. Who are they? Why did they do it? Where are they now? The film draws answers from the urban legends that grew around the controversial sex videos and the result is a humorous narrative with elements of mock documentary. Leo (Ryan Eigenmann) is a 21-year-old co-ed student in a prestigious college. He dreams of making and starring in his own "dirty movie"and becomes obsessed with the idea. Leo eggs his girlfriend Claire (Jennifer Lee) to be part of the video. She hesitates but gives in to the idea soon enough when she finds her most compelling reason in the person of a sexy girl named Miles (Avi Siwa). Generally perceived as a tragic event, the Co-ed Scandal is viewed through the film from multiple perspectives ennobling the idea of beauty-and tragedy-as something that ultimately resides in the eye of the beholder.

Based on a painting by Rembrandt, “The Sacrifice of Isaac,” the film is a meditation on the complex relations between fathers and sons. In two parallel stories, a son’s desire to be free is shown as he struggles from his father’s oppressive domination. This is shown on the one hand by a boy who watches over his father in his sickbed wishing to free himself from his father’s domineering presence; and on the other, a biblical Isaac who frees himself from Abraham’s intent to kill his own son.