Bryan Homecillo

Set in an affluent, upper middle class village in the suburbs, “The Animals” chronicles a day in the life of Jake, Trina, and Alex, who go through the musings that every kid in high school has to deal with. All Jake wants to do is have a good time, Alex just wants to fit in, and Trina simply wants more. A very vivid picture is painted of life in high school after the final bell rings, as well as a different side of the Philippines, and what is happening to its privileged children.

Melinda is a new substitute teacher at the Malawig Elementary School, located in a poor remote barrio. A young university graduate, her family expects her to look for work abroad, but in her idealism she takes on a challenging job in the provincial public school, which lacks resources and has corrupt personnel. The heavy monsoon rains and the nearby NPAs also add to her difficulties. The children are indifferent to their studies, having been affected by the hopelessness around them. Melinda tries to motivate them by capitalizing on their interest and talent in singing. She takes advantage of a funding opportunity to enter them in a choral contest. She encounters some resistance, however, from the school administration and from the parents of her students. Furthermore, the death of one of the choral group’s members at the hands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines casts a pall on their once joyful preparations. Melinda, however, constantly tries to rise above these challenges.

Ahmad belongs to the Bangsamoro people. While many of his kind are bent on fighting, thinking that Mindanao is only for the Muslims, Ahmad prefers to live a simple and peaceful life. He works as a doctor in Manila while his wife, Fatima, and his only son, Ibrahim, stay in Mindanao with his mother, Farida. Ahmad is shocked and devastated when Fatima breaks the confounding news. Ibrahim was killed by a stray bullet when vigilantes indiscriminately fire at their village. Ahmad goes back to where he came from Mindanao. Ibrahim’s death did not cause Ahmad to stop striving to live a peaceful life, much to the consternation of his brother, Musa. His brother takes an exactly opposite stand. Musa believes in waging a war against all the Kaafir (unbelievers) who may impede the Moro’s goal of independence. He even trains his young son, Rashid to a Muslim warrior’s life.

Bill and Clinton, are garbage collectors who struggle to finance their daily needs from their job; yet Clinton’s soft heart could not help but adopt more homeless children. Bill, who is totally against of his brother extreme charitableness always ends up accepting the children in their congested tiny home. Now Clinton finds another homeless child named Ana. As expected Bill disproves of having additional mouths to feed as they barely make ends meet. But the adorable Ana charms them both by her wit thus she ends up living with her new family. But Bill and Clinton get to discover that Ana is not just another ordinary orphan kid when a group of harmful goons start to go after them. They get to learn that Ana manages to sneak away from her abductors one of which is her stepfather Jack and the latter’s real lover Rose.

Gregory bikes his way through the streets of Manila and transports film reels from one theater to another giving “extra service” to its patrons. He lives with his grandfather whose dementia worries Gregory, but whose stories of local movies being friends with Rogelio dela Rosa, Carmen Rosales, Leopoldo Salcedo, and other film stars fill him with inspiration.

A Filipina meets a man in hiding.

A 1998 Filipino romantic drama starring Judy Ann Santos and Gladys Reyes.

The movie tells the story of Abigael Edades who returns to her Philippine hometown from her five-year stint as a nurse in Canada. Her town mates rousingly welcome her as a hero, the crass moniker ascribed by the government to hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working abroad. She finds her family in tatters, her parents estranged and living apart and her brother Jepoy living the life of drugs. But she basks in the welcome of her mother and youngest brother Noel and the devotion of her boyfriend, who proposes marriage. Her happiness is short-lived. She is diagnosed with SARS and contaminates Noel. They cause a national scare, are quarantined in Manila and are shunned by their own townspeople and the municipal government. Even her boyfriend leaves her. The hero becomes a heel. "Just a month after my return, my views on life and the people around me have irrevocably changed," she says at the start of the movie.