SYNOPSIS
Horacia has spent the last 30 years in a women's correctional facility. A former elementary school teacher, she leads a quiet existence helping others practice reading and writing. When another inmate confesses to the original crime, Horacia is released and seeks out her estranged family. While searching for her missing son Junior, she discovers again her homeland – the Philippines of the late 90s, only to realize that its inhabitants are terrorized by corruption and rampant kidnappings. Her generous personality becomes tainted by feelings of revenge...
CAST & CREW
Lav Diaz
Director
Producer(s)
Ronald Arguelles, Lav Diaz
Script
Lav Diaz
Director of Photography
Lav Diaz
Production designer
Rene Dino, Raul Dino, Roderick Duran, Popo Diaz
Sound
Corinne De San Jose
Edit
Lav Diaz
Cast
Charo Santos-Concio, John Lloyd Cruz, Michael De Mesa, Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino, Nonie Buencamino, Marj Lorico, Mayen Estanero, Romelyn Sale
Production company(ies)
Sine Olivia Pilipinas, Cinema One Originals
Lav Diaz
Lav Diaz studied economics and then film at the Mowelfund Film Institute in Quezon. In 2001, he directed West Side Avenue, following it with Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004) and Heremias: Book One (2006). Death in the Land of Encantos (2007) and Melancholia (2008) both won awards at the Venice IFF, the first obtaining a special mention and the second the Premio Orizzonti. He then made Butterflies Have No Memories (2009), screened at Locarno the same year. In 2013, he directed Norte, the End of History screened at Cannes in the section Un Certain Regard. He received the Golden Leopard at the 2014 Locarno IFF for From What Is Before. At the 2016, Berlin IFF, his film A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery was awarded the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize.
Filmography
The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion (1998), Burger Boys(1999), Naked under the Moon (1999), West Side Avenue (2001), Hesus, rebolusyunaryo (2002), Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004), Heremias: Book One (2006), Death in the Land of Encantos (2007), Melancholia (2008), Butterflies Have No Memories (2009), Century of Birthing (2011), Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution (2011),Florentina Hubaldo, CTE(2013), Norte, the End of History (2013), From What Is Before (2014), Fragment (2015), A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery(2016), The Woman Who Left (2016), The Day before the End (short, 2016).
