Get to know the first 4 entries of Metro Manila Film Festival’s 51st edition

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MANILA, Philippines – The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) introduced the first four official entries for its 51st edition during its grand launch on Tuesday, July 8.

The film festival takes on the theme of “A New Era for Philippine Cinema,” in a bid to sustain the positive reception it had gotten in its 50th edition. MMFF 50 was only supposed to run until January 7, but the film festival eventually decided to extend it until January 14 following “public clamor.”

With the bar set high following MMFF 50, the executive committee hopes to reap even better results this time around.

“We promise an even more exciting and engaging experience for the filmmakers and moviegoers alike for the 51st edition of the MMFF. With the first batch of entries revealed, get ready for an exciting cinematic journey in December,” Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and MMFF Concurrent Chairman Don Artes said.

Here are the films that make up the first batch of MMFF 51’s lineup:

Call Me Mother

Call Me Mother follows queer mom Twinkle’s single parenthood journey — happily raising an adopted son named Angel all by herself.

Angel’s adoption will only be finalized if nobody comes to claim him in the next three months, but before the time is up, a woman named Mara comes into their lives. As Mara and Angel grow closer, Twinkle does everything in her power to prove herself as a mother.

Starring Nadine Lustre and Vice Ganda, this comedy-drama film is directed by and written by Jun Robles Lana, with Daisy G. Cayanan and Daniel S. Saniana also serving as script writers.

Call Me Mother is produced by ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc., The Ideafirst Company, and Viva Communications, Inc.

Rekonek

Set during a Philippine Christmas, Rekonek is a multi-genre, multi-narrative film that explores the stories of six Filipinos navigating life without the internet.

Produced by Reality MM Studios, Rekonek is directed by Jade Castro, and written by Jericho Aguado, Leovic Arceta, and Kat Naval. It stars Gloria Diaz, Carmina Villaroel, Gerald Anderson, Zoren Legaspi, and Alexa Miro.

Manila’s Finest

Starring Piolo Pascual, Manila’s Finest is a crime-thriller set during the first quarter storm in the 1970s, where policemen Homer, Conrad, and Billy are consumed by the murder case of troublemaking teenagers in the slums.

Over time, the gap between the rich and the poor grows wider, and naturally, students begin to express more dissent, making them more vulnerable to disappearance. This is all while Homer’s daughter Hope goes through an awakening, and realizes all the injustices around her.

Produced by Cignal TV, Inc., Manila’s Finest is directed by Rae Red and written by Michiko Yamamoto, Moira Lang, Sherad Anthony Sanchez.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Evil Origins

Produced by Regal Entertainment, Inc., Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Evil Origins sees the horrors persist across three different eras. In 1775, four holy women are killed when a dark force is unleashed from a strange chest they got from a Spanish ship as they arrive at their convent.

In 2025, a Halloween party in an abandoned hotel takes an even darker turn when they are eyed by a mysterious killer, who may or may not be human. 25 years later, in 2050, an Aswang rules the Philippines, and through all the evil, a man named Hunter discovers that his family may just be linked to all the chaos.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Evil Origins is directed by Shugo Praico, Joey De Guzman, and Ian Loreños. It is written by Alex Castor, Onay Sales, and Gina Marissa Tagasa.

This film features a star-studded roster of lead actors: Carla Abellana, Manilyn Reynes, Janice de Belen, Richard Gutierrez, Ivana Alawi, Fyang Smith, Loisa Andallo, Ashley Ortega, Ysabel Ortega, Elijah Alejo, Francine Diaz, Kaila Estrada, Richard Gutierrez, Ryan Bang, Seth Fedelin, JM Ibarra and Dustin Yu.

MMFF typically announces its chosen films in two batches. In 2023 and 2024, five entries were announced in batch one, and another five in batch two — which meant that these two MMFF iterations saw 10 entries each on their respective lineups.