Movies by Joel Saracho
Sex Games
A rich couple often spices up their sexual relationship by doing their so-called Sex Games. But when they meet a new set of "playmates"- a conservative couple, their game becomes more challenging.
Bela Luna
When Luna, a battered wife, and Bela, an empowered artist, meet for the first time, their hearts will be freed by the people and society that chain them.
Contestant #4
A young boy frequently visits an old man who lives alone, keeping him always in good company. One night, he chances upon the old man watching a dated clip of himself as a cross-dressing boy. This sparks within the young boy an interest to find out more about the old man's past. What he ultimately discovers aids both him and the old man towards a richer understanding of how the weight of life and identity should be carried.
A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery
Andres Bonifacio y de Castro is considered to be one of the most influential proponents in the struggle against Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines during the late nineteenth century. Bonifacio’s widow is searching for her husband’s missing dead body; as she and her followers stumble deeper into the jungle, they become entangled in the dense thicket of their own guilt and responsibility. The Spanish governor tries to play off the various rebel factions and their utopian visions against each other. At the same time, a badly wounded compa...
Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay
A professional horror movie extra prepares for her first ever acting award nomination.
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.
Paglipay
An Aeta from Baytan village in Zambales makes a living from cutting down and burning of trees and hunting on the foothills of Mt. Pinatubo.
From What Is Before
The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad and houses are burned. Ferdinand E. Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081 putting the entire country under Martial Law.
New Queer Visions: Seeing is Believing
In a world where men hide their true love and feelings, where a mother turns a blind eye to her son's identity, and where religion dictates that a man may only lie with a woman — is everything we see truly what it seems to be? The latest release from New Queer Visions takes a look at representations of boys and men, how desires are hidden from those around them, and how self-belief conquers doubt. The short films are: Adult (2017); Hello, Stranger [Dag vreemde man] (2016); Little Potato (2017); Juan Gabriel is Dead [Se murió Juan Gabriel] (...
Salvage
A news team investigating rumors of aswang killings in a remote barrio are attacked by a group of soldiers, forcing them to run for their lives in the deeps of the forest, where more mystery and danger lay in wait.
Matangtubig
A story of how a violent crime disrupts a quaint rural town in Batangas. A girl’s dead body is discovered and puts the whole town on trial while the former’s companion remains missing. The ensuing media spectacle slowly exposes the town’s secrets. As they celebrate its yearly festival by the lake, an unknowing sleeping evil unravels and haunts the townsfolk.
2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten
Felix is a friendless achiever in high school whose life changes after the arrival of the half-American Snyder brothers, entangling him in their dark ambitions.
Tandem
In the traffic-laden streets of Metro Manila, two brothers use the chaos of the city roads as a smokescreen for their shady occupation tandem robbers on motorbike. But when a robbery goes sour, the brothers are forced to graduate from low level thieves to high profile hit men in an act that tests both their resolve and their relationship.
Tibak
The film is based on the progressive and nationalist youth organization “Kabataang Makabayan” (KM), founded in 1964. Kabataang Makabayan was led and co-founded by Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, four years before they also reestablished the Communist Party of the Philippines
The ExorSIS
The film follows Gina, who must find an exorcist after her younger sister gets possessed by a dead woman’s spirit.