Dante Perez

A woman who had migrated to Canada at the age of 9 returns to her desolate hometown.

Three characters take on different identities to escape a life of pain and suffering.

One of the most influential and audacious filmmakers, Lav Diaz returns to this Festival with this epic meditation on the role of the artist and the rise of fundamentalism in the world today. His subject, a filmmaker, struggles to finish his latest work, while dealing with pressure from his co-workers, festival programmers, girlfriends and the press (tiff.net)

As no other filmmaker, Lav Diaz is involved with the suffering of the people of the Philippines, with its history of colonialism, corruption and poverty. A philosophical drama about the psychological effects of injustice and arbitrariness. Two poor labourers leave the city looking for a treasure. (mubi.com)

This travel-shockumentary-vampire fiction could well be a disguised ode to the Mondo films of Jacopetti, but with Khavn you never really know. Our guide is Kristo Vampiro, who admits in a voice-over that he is willing to go very far to quench his thirst for blood. The entirely blood-red images show the continual self-castigation of people in the street, juxtaposed with cock fights and acted crucifixions, complete with mouth-organ music.

What can a family do if someone disappears in a dictatorship? You can't go to the police for help or information. Many families were affected in this way by the cruelty of the Marcos dictatorship (1972-1986). The film shows one of them as an example of paradise lost. (imdb)

A woman from the end of the 19th century visits modern day Philippines and observes three interwoven stories: that of a prostitute, a group of criminals and a musician. (Mubi)