Back Door to Hell

Guam, U.S.A. Thursday, November 24, Thanksgiving Day. Alex, a local newspaper photographer, gets into a “green card marriage” with her good friend James, a Guam-born Filipino. Miriam, a former member of the Philippine press and now an established Guam journalist, longs to repair a damaged relationship with her American husband. Ella, a hotel housekeeper for almost 20 years, finds means of sending her 88-year old mother to the Philippines with the uncertainty of coming back. As the island of Guam celebrates this classic American holiday when people count their blessings and give thanks, the lives of the three Filipina immigrants intersect and find themselves at a tug-o-war of sacrifice and significance where they must find their home or must they find it somewhere else.

Circus hijinks surround the barangay of Sta. Maria in the midst of an international murder sensation. Swanie, Sta. Maria’s barangay chair and a distant relative of the killer, tries to gain political points by staging a wake for the criminal-turned-celebrity. Meanwhile in faraway Manila, Joanna, Swanie’s runaway son, navigates his way through labyrinthine bureaucracy, to give a neighbor a proper burial. With these two unrelated deaths, estranged mother and son each bury the dead long shelved in their hearts. Amidst these unspoken family burials, the neighborhoods’ penchant for funeral fiestas, gossip and secrets, bizarre social events and the sheer mix of scandal and inebriation complete the picture of dying the Pinoy way.

Wartime, 1942. Singapore. An Australian fighter pilot shot down in combat awakens suspended in the treetops. As night devours day, he must navigate through dangerous jungle in search of sanctuary.

Due to a delayed flight, a group of German flight passengers had to wait in the hall of the airport of Manila. The crowd was quite mixed, ranging from a cultivated eastern German teacher couple up to sleazy sex tourists. As the waiting prolonged, more and more aggressions and long-repressed behaviors shed their way to the surface.

It's the story of a young woman, whose husband, is arrested by the soldiers of a Japanese garrison, on the suspicion that he is a guerilla. Dizon pleads her case to the garrison's commander, who sympathizes and lets Yllana go; when the commander's wife dies and leaves their son motherless, Dizon, is hired to feed the baby from her own breast.

It is the time of El Niño, a season ruled by superstition and fear. The rain is long in coming, the ground has cracked up dry. The ricestalks are thin and sickly. Villagers go hungry. And a boy dies from a snakebite. The adults splinter. Some pray. Others join a cult to appease earth spirits and wait for the ada, the ricefield spirit goddess of bountiful harvest who dances naked on moonlit nights and signals the need for a virgin’s sacrifice. There are fence sitters, equally pro-church and pro-cult. A landlord’s steward enforces his master’s usury on hapless farmers. A self-righteous priest says rain must first be deserved. Two young women fight for the right to do with their bodies as they please. A bastard boy and a blind girl come of age. Yesterday, they were children.

The long-standing conflict between the military forces and the rebel group Abu Sayaff has severely ravaged the poor town of Patikul in Sulu. Residents have become so accustomed to the armed clashes, that reports of kidnappings and recruitment of young Tausugs to join the rebel groups already became normal news to them. However, Amman, a 33 year old coffee farmer in Sitio Kan-Ague, continues to believe that there is still hope for their town. Amman believes that educating his children would change their present situation.

Sarah is a nurse at a Public Maternity Hospital. The hospital is abuzz with pregnant mothers of all shapes and sizes in different stages of labor. The hospital is short on staff on Christmas Day so Sarah is forced to put in a double shift. Sarah observes the women coming and going in her ward, noting who is a first-timer and who is a veteran. Meanwhile, the wards are overcrowded : two women and their babies sharing single beds while those in labor are spilling unto the hallways. Sarah takes these all in stride, her heart and mind laboring over her own personal pains.

A coming of age story about Isabel’s lessons and realizations on life and death as a funeral videography intern. Due to her family situation, Isabel is cynical and skeptical of everything that comes her way. When she enters the I-libings for her required college internship, she sees it as the worst internship her college adviser could suggest to her. Later as she accumulates her required hours, she realizes that the company is not just a place where videographers make money out of other people’s misfortunes but is a place where the dead and the grieving receive special attention. It all comes full circle when Isabel is faced with an unusual family tragedy. Isabel realizes that her internship might have been just 200 hours, but the lessons that the I-libings left her would last a lifetime.

Mabuti accidentally finds a stash of money that could bring an end to her family’s financial problems: is the solution that simple or is it loaded with complications?

In a quiet, rural Filipino village, sibling rivalry continues through adulthood for two sisters and finally tears their family apart.

In the 1970s, a widow in a remote village takes over her husband’s barber shop. She becomes the laughing stock of the male-dominated community and in the process discovers freedom and liberation.

A 12-year old Anita falls in love with the new woman in town; years later, a girlhood crush blossoms during the Fiesta of Santa Clara in Obando, Bulacan.

The plot revolves around a secret agency with Reserve Agent King Aguila tasked to recover the Philippines' most important artifact. The artifact is the bolo of Lapu-lapu which he used to kill Magellan in 1521.

World War II drama about members of an American bomber squadron who are captured and held prisoners by the German army.

Two opposing characters. Two contrasting background. One love story written in the stars. When Andrew's car collides with Anya's truck, his relatively peaceful life is destined to change forever. For Anya is not like any other girl. Downright frank and opinionated, Anya knows when not to give up. Despite their initial antagonism, Andrew discovers that beneath Anya's tenacious front is a sweet, spirited woman who knows how to enjoy life. And through Anya, Andrew begins to shed off his rigid stance. But before romance could bloom between them, Andrew is set to marry someone else...

Every Friday, Abigail religiously consults Madame Lola, a fortune teller. The old shrewd lady takes advantage of Abigail’s extreme grip on superstition by giving her signs about the perfect man for her. Nelson also takes advantage on the situation and paid Madame Lola to give Abigail signs that would make her believe that he is the one for her. Eventually through Nelson’s perseverance, and Madame Lola’s bogus prediction, Abigail started to believe that Nelson is her Mr. Right. But there is no secret that remains uncover.

High school student Jen Guilarman lives in misery with her abusive mother and her mom's lesbian lover. Looking for some escape, she aims to join an all-girl gang which first requires her to undergo a sexual rite. Jen only has one man in mind, and that is her teacher Ariel Basco who has always been sympathetic with her. Suddenly, Jen cries rape and gets her teacher arrested. But behind her tragic fate is a dark truth.

Miri is trapped in her past and this time her whole past comes crashing back into her life: old dead secrets, her dead parents, and even the walking dead. Miris return to Manila only brings her back to more trouble the personal kind. Even as a young girl, Miri believed she is responsible for her parents death and the guilt kept her from building healthy relationships with those around her specially with her younger brother Mark. Miri Alvarez, is one of the best agents of an international group organized to protect scientists and inventors from a tech-grabbing group called The Agency. But Miri is hot headed and refuses to follow orders. In one rescue operation, Miris refusal to follow protocol gets her long-time partner killed. Miri is suspended and sent back to Manila.

In the story, Vivian is sole heir to a business empire. Sheila is Vivian's friend who is a lifestyle magazine editor. Meanwhile, Philip is the hottest bachelor in town engaged to be wed to Vivian. However, a scandalous revelation tears the three characters' worlds apart. Time passes by and the supposed bride becomes the lover and the supposed lover is now the bride.