Movies by Shamaine Buencamino
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Antonio's Secret
The story about a teenage boy, Antonio, whose emerging gay sexuality alienates him from his friends and family, until his libertine uncle, Jonbert, comes to live with him and his mother.
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Unfriend
On Christmas Day, 15 year old David finds out that his boyfriend, Jonathan has taken another lover. The discovery leads him on the brink of depression making him think of ways to have him back at all cost. He has invited Jonathan to see him on this day for the last time.
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Pedicab
A tragic-comic portrait of a dysfunctional family and the disquieting blind faith they invoke as they dream of going home.
Tsardyer
Loosely based on the kidnapping of a broadcast journalist and her crew, the film shows a 10-year-old Tausug boy used by the Abu Sayyaf group to "charge" the cellphones they use in negotiating for their demands for the release of their captives. Things take a strange turn when the journalist befriends Shihab and earns his trust as Shihab finds himself torn between his loyalty to his Tausug brothers and the bond he has forged with his newfound friend.
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Sandalang Bahay
A story of three sisters in a family home by the beach in the province.
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The Woman Who Left
For Horacia Somorostro, living has become a veritable reclusion perpetua, an imprisonment. Life’s spins and randomness has been very difficult, vicious and inexplicable for her. The year is 1997. Princess Diana dies in a violent car crash. The world is saddened by the death of Mother Theresa. And the Philippines is gripped with fear. It has become the kidnap capital of Asia.
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Pektus
The story of a day in the lives of two men in the city -both proud, indifferent, and bound by the confines of their milieu and their choices in life- and their incidental yet preordained meeting in a one-way alley that would change their lives thereafter. Raising questions of how far people have control over what happens in their lives, the film seeks to explore circumstance versus choice, breaking points, and second chances.
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Bliss
After she gets into a film-production accident that leaves her crippled, successful actress Jane Ciego slowly transitions into madness after experiencing horrors and torture in her own home.
Ikaw ang Pag-ibig
Evangeline spends most of her time working late, editing TV commercials. Her work doesn’t leave her much time to spend with her boyfriend Joey or their son. In spite of having a family, she mostly keeps to herself, enjoying her independence. But when her priest brother Johnny is diagnosed with cancer, she’s suddenly called on to be a possible bone marrow donor. As her dysfunctional family starts to gather around the ailing Johnny, Evangeline is forced to come face to face with her failings.
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Scarecrow
The search for a missing watch instigates the painful quest for the truth in Belyn’s and her son’s life.
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The Baggage
Raped and pregnant, an OFW rids herself of unwanted baggage on the flight back home.
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When the Waves Are Gone
Lieutenant Hermes Papauran, one of the best investigators of the Philippines, is at a deep moral crossroad. As a member of the police forces, he is a first-hand witness of the murderous anti-drug campaign that his institution is implementing with dedication. The atrocities are corroding Hermes physically and spiritually, causing him a severe skin disease resulting from anxiety and guilt. As he tries to heal, a dark past haunts him and has eventually come back for a reckoning.
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Maledicto
When Fr. Xavi is put on the case as a last resort, she sees one last chance to find help for the girl. With the aid of his keen observation skills, his rigorous learning, a heady clairvoyant assistant and perhaps a little faith, the cynical Fr. Xavi must find the means to confront a gripping darkness bigger than himself, and in doing so find some measure of purpose and redemption.
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The Pirate
A story of greedy businessman on how they make their own money.
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Lorna
Lorna is sixty year old woman who is constantly searching for the right man, having failed at so many relationships. Having lived close to a lifetime alone, she decides to take another stab at moving on and more importantly, love.
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Soliloquy
A bus takes-off from urban Manila to the rural southeastern side of the country, carrying a group of mixed passengers from all walks of life, each one has a personal story to tell and they are telling it in their own voice. During the long journey, as the passengers mentally sort out their past & their future, things happen in the present, by choice or by providence, that make their journey memorable—the bus blows a tire, a song elicits tears, a butterfly causes commotion, a picture gets lost, someone's head is stoned, some hearts are broke...
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Vince & Kath & James
The story of two lovestruck teens, Vince and Kath, through text messages.
Concerto
Concerto is about how, in the last part of World War II, a special piano concert is held in the forest outside Davao City, in Mindanao. In these boondocks, a displaced Filipino family, lead by Military Commander Ricardo and his wife Julia, become acquainted with a group of Japanese officers, similarly camped nearby. Their son Joselito, a Japanese speaker, becomes the conduit with the neighboring Japanese. Their daughters Niña, an aspiring concert pianist and the musically gifted, Maria, who is able to play by ear, are alternately repulsed an...
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Sisa
Narcisa "Sisa" Dalangin is a young Filipina during the Spanish Occupation & is a childhood friend of Jose Rizal.
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Agaton & Mindy
"Agaton & Mindy" tells the story of two young dancers from different background. Mindy (Louise De Los Reyes) is from rich family and suffers from depression. Agaton (Chase Vega) is from poor family and is searching for his mother (Dina Bonnevie) who abandoned him while he was a young child. Both meet in a dance class handled by Tanya Dolokhov (Cherie Gil) who pairs them up in a dance recital. A brilliant and devotional teacher, Tanya encourages her students to tap into their wild sides for inspiration, and this is also the time when the...