A Guide to The 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Official Entries

Christmas season is also MMFF season, and beginning December 25, the 42nd edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival runs in theaters across the Philippines. Plan out your Filipino film binge with this edition of The Click List.

Here are the 8 full-feature film entries competing in this year's MMFF, showing in cinemas nationwide from December 25, 2016 to January 7, 2017.

1. Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2: #ForeverIsNotEnough

What it's about: The sequel to the 2011 indie film that premiered in Cinemalaya and also screened internationally. Eugene Domingo and the rest of the actors, director, and writer return for this MMFF entry that is a satirical take on the mainstream film industry this time around.

Starring: Kean Cipriano, Eugene Domingo, Jericho Rosales

Directed by: Marlon Rivera

2. Die Beautiful

What it's about: This film gained buzz before MMFF season because it garnered Audience Choice Award and Best Actor (Paolo Ballesteros) last month at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Ballesteros, known for his makeup transformations, stars in this film as a transgender woman who dies in a beauty pageant. It was her last request to 'die beautiful' and be transformed into a celebrity for every evening of her wake.

Starring: Paolo Ballesteros

Directed by: Jun Robles Lana

3. Kabisera

What it's about: Inspired by a true story that takes place in Batangas, this drama revolves around a close-knit family that struggles with violent crimes and extrajudicial killings, sociopolitical issues that the country is facing in real life.

Starring: Nora Aunor, Ricky Davao, Jason Abalos

Directed by: Arturo San Agustin, Real Florido

4. Oro

What it's about: "When nature becomes an excuse for violence, everything that is gold turns into blood." Alvin Yapan's film revolves around the people in a small mining community that encounters trouble when an armed group claiming to be environmentalists begins to harass them and take over their mining operations.

Starring: Irma Adlawan, Joem Bascon, Mercedes Cabral

Directed by: Alvin Yapan

5. Saving Sally

What it's about: This indie film is twelve years in the making and finally hits the big screen as an MMFF entry and it has also been given an A rating by the Cinema Evaluation Board at that. It's a live-action animated teen film filled with love, monsters, and gadgets, a story of an aspiring comic-book artist falling in love with his best friend, Sally.

Starring: Enzo Marcos, Rhian Ramos

Directed by: Avid Liongoren

6. Seklusyon

What it's about: Want some horror during the Christmas season? This film is for you. The movie is set in the 1940s and is about a ritual of seclusion where new priests in training confine themselves in a retreat. Secluded in the retreat house, they are now left to confront their inner demons and the arrival of a nun and a child.

Starring: Elora Espano, Phoebe Walker, Rhed Bustamante

Directed by: Erik Matti

7. Sunday Beauty Queen

What it's about: It's the festival's lone documentary film entry that premiered at this year's 21st Busan International Film Festival. It gives us a different take on Filipina OFWs. Weekdays for a group of domestic workers in Hong Kong are spent on back-breaking work, while Sundays transform them into beauty queens in preparation for a beauty pageant.

Starring: Cherry Bretania, Hazel Perdid, Maylyn Jocob

Directed by: Baby Ruth Villarama

8. Vince & Kath & James

What it's about: Based on an online "textserye" series that went viral, this adaptation revolves around the lives of Vince and Kath who fell in love with each other through text messaging. This millennial romance is not without some complications along the way.

Starring: Joshua Garcia, Julia Barretto, Ronnie Alonte

Directed by: Ted Boborol

8 Short Film Entries:

1. Birds by Christian Paolo Lat

2. EJK by Bor Ocampo

3. Manila Scream by Roque Lee & Blair Camilo

4. Mga Bitoon sa Siudad by Jarell Serencio

5. Mitatang by Arvin Jezer Gagui

6. Momo by Avid Liongoren

7. Passage of Life by Renz Vincemark Cruz & Hannah Daryl Gayapa

8. Sitsiritsit by Brian Spencer Reyes

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For more information, visit the MMFF website (www.mmff.com.ph), like MMFF on Facebook (/mmffofficial) and follow on Twitter (@mmfilmfest).