Writing

Giancarlo Abrahan

Giancarlo Abrahan is a Filipino filmmaker, writer, translator, dramaturg, and educator. His first Cinemalaya entry was as co-writer of Transit (Best Film: Cinemalaya 2013). He also made his feature directorial debut at Cinemalaya with Dagitab (Best Director, Best Screenplay: Cinemalaya 2014). As a producer, his entries to the festival include Hilom (Best Short Film: Cinemalaya 2017) and Abogbaybay…

Known For

Dead Air

Dead Air · 2026

On the anniversary of her renowned musician sister's death, a young radio presenter revisits her unreleased demo tapes in the studio for a documentary and finds herself haunted by the guilt of her past sins. Based on 'The Raven' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe.

Iskalawags

Iskalawags · 2013

One day, in the small peaceful town of Barrio Malinawon, seven young punks, who call themselves the Iskalawags because of their shared love for Filipino action movies (particularly those starred by their idol Jeric Raval), decide to set out on a mini quest to find the tree that according to Palot-the gang's de facto leader-bears the lone papaya fruit as large as the belly of Intoy's father.

i grew an inch when my father died

i grew an inch when my father died · 2026

i grew an inch when my father died

When their abusive father is murdered by a neighbour, two brothers must grapple with loss and liberty while navigating their friendship with the killer’s son. A deeply felt debut about the complexities of crime and inherited guilt.

I'm Drunk, I Love You

I'm Drunk, I Love You · 2017

I'm Drunk, I Love You

Days before graduation, two college best friends go on one last road trip where they settle how they really feel for each other.

Whether the Weather Is Fine

Whether the Weather Is Fine · 2021

Whether the Weather Is Fine

Against the backdrop of the Typhoon Yolanda, a mother and her son struggle for survival and deal with absurdity of fate, sustained by the hope that they carry, and what is lost and gained.

The Mothering

The Mothering · 2026

MovieHorrorDrama

Near the 40th day of her estranged father’s death, a woman returns to her family’s ancestral home where three generations of women are bound together by grief, madness, and evil thicker than blood.

Sparks

MovieFantasyDrama

While the marriage of two professors is on the verge of falling apart, the woman is dragged into a scandal involving a young student. On the other hand, the man falls in love with the subject of his research—a deity that appears to him as the ghost of an old flame.

Cinemartyrs

Cinemartyrs · 2025

A young filmmaker is bent on recreating forgotten massacres from Philippine history, but when she begins shooting at a site where 1,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered, angry spirits are awakened and the lives of her team and the local villagers are put in peril.

Filmography

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Dead Air

Dead Air · 2026

On the anniversary of her renowned musician sister's death, a young radio presenter revisits her unreleased demo tapes in the studio for a documentary and finds herself haunted by the guilt of her past sins. Based on 'The Raven' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe.

Script Consultant

Iskalawags

Iskalawags · 2013

One day, in the small peaceful town of Barrio Malinawon, seven young punks, who call themselves the Iskalawags because of their shared love for Filipino action movies (particularly those starred by their idol Jeric Raval), decide to set out on a mini quest to find the tree that according to Palot-the gang's de facto leader-bears the lone papaya fruit as large as the belly of Intoy's father.

Script Consultant

i grew an inch when my father died

i grew an inch when my father died · 2026

i grew an inch when my father died

When their abusive father is murdered by a neighbour, two brothers must grapple with loss and liberty while navigating their friendship with the killer’s son. A deeply felt debut about the complexities of crime and inherited guilt.

Screenplay

I'm Drunk, I Love You

I'm Drunk, I Love You · 2017

I'm Drunk, I Love You

Days before graduation, two college best friends go on one last road trip where they settle how they really feel for each other.

Writer

Whether the Weather Is Fine

Whether the Weather Is Fine · 2021

Whether the Weather Is Fine

Against the backdrop of the Typhoon Yolanda, a mother and her son struggle for survival and deal with absurdity of fate, sustained by the hope that they carry, and what is lost and gained.

Writer

The Mothering

The Mothering · 2026

MovieHorrorDrama

Near the 40th day of her estranged father’s death, a woman returns to her family’s ancestral home where three generations of women are bound together by grief, madness, and evil thicker than blood.

Director

Sparks

MovieFantasyDrama

While the marriage of two professors is on the verge of falling apart, the woman is dragged into a scandal involving a young student. On the other hand, the man falls in love with the subject of his research—a deity that appears to him as the ghost of an old flame.

Screenplay

Cinemartyrs

Cinemartyrs · 2025

A young filmmaker is bent on recreating forgotten massacres from Philippine history, but when she begins shooting at a site where 1,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered, angry spirits are awakened and the lives of her team and the local villagers are put in peril.

Oscar

Islands

Islands · 2013

MovieScience Fiction

ISLANDS explores a cinematic journey of two astronauts. As they enter Earth’s atmosphere the structure transforms. The spacecraft becomes the meteor from a myth of a tribesman; it triggers an old lady’s memory of a lover from her past. As these diverse characters converge in a plane of reality, we confront a particular form of gravity we covertly feel—falling in love.

Screenplay

Transit

Transit · 2013

MovieDramaFamily

Moises, a single Filipino dad, comes home to celebrate his son's fourth birthday and learns that the Israeli government is going to deport the children of foreign workers.

Screenplay

Sila-Sila

Sila-Sila · 2019

A 30-year old man who returns home to Manila is forced to confront his old life, his old friends, and his ex-boyfriend at their high school reunion where the drama of the past and the present collide.

Director

Ordinary People

Ordinary People · 2016

Ordinary People

Ordinary People is a family portrait of Jane, 16, and her boyfriend, Aries, who live on their own in the chaotic streets of Manila. Surviving as pickpockets, the lives of the young couple change when they suddenly become teenage parents. But not even a month into parenthood, their child is stolen from them. In order to retrieve the child, the young couple is forced to take desperate measures.

Translator

Want You with All My Hypothalamus

Want You with All My Hypothalamus · 2018

Want You with All My Hypothalamus

In Avenida, the lives of four men intertwine, searching for something. They all find what they are looking for in one woman named Aileen.

Producer

Death of Nintendo

Death of Nintendo · 2020

Death of Nintendo

MovieComedyDrama

The story takes us into the colorful pop-culture world of these four 13-year old friends, back in the days when video games were still a novelty. Mimaw and her friends Paolo, Kachi and Gilligan go on a journey of self-discovery together as they play games and wrestle with new dilemmas – puppy love, circumcision and other horror stories.

Translator

The Weight

The Weight · 2014

The wife of a middle-aged stone miner bears child while he is in a relationship with an enchanted black figure. A fettered commitment to an unborn child he already loves and a wife he despises torments the man. The enchanted lover offers him uncertain seduction. And he must choose, just as every dark creature must only pick between painful fates.

Director

Kapatiran

Kapatiran · 2015

A story focusing on a elite law school fraternity, it follows a week in the lives of a neophyte, a master, and a lawyer alumnus, and crosses the lines of money, power and connections within Manila’s society.

Please • Care

Please • Care · 2017

Please • Care

MovieComedyDrama

An 80-year old woman decides that she will be an old maid. But when the woman tries to leave her husband for sixty years, their children forbid their parents to separate.

Writer

Gumamelas Are Still Red

Gumamelas Are Still Red · 2024

Gumamelas Are Still Red

When a rural village in the Philippines starts to vanish, leaving only carabaos as witnesses, a child plans out a journey to locate his lost father, revealing a secret that defies belief.

Creative Consultant

Never Tear Us Apart

Never Tear Us Apart · 2018

Never Tear Us Apart

An aging spy, his delusional wife, and promiscuous son are driven into madness as they confront the terrors caused by the monster known as The Shadow.

Creative Producer

Ang Pagbubuntis Ni Ligaya

Ang Pagbubuntis Ni Ligaya · 2023

Ang Pagbubuntis Ni Ligaya

A 68-year-old matandang dalaga suddenly goes through pregnancy when her 19-year-old niece visits her home. As they spend time together, the two women are forced to deal with the cards life has handed them.

Creative Consultant

Still

In a fishing village that’s been ravaged by a strong typhoon, the bond of twin brothers is disrupted by another young boy. Hilom follows the journey of the brothers, Andres and Gael, as they find healing against the harsh landscape of an island that’s also trying to recover.

Producer

Cross My Heart and Hope to Die

Cross My Heart and Hope to Die · 2023

Cross My Heart and Hope to Die

Mila struggles as she remains unpaid at work and finds comfort in a love interest through his constant phone calls.

Script Consultant

Shoredust

Shoredust · 2024

Three brothers deal with grief after the death of their mother. The eldest brother crosses the sea to retrieve her ashes, while the middle brother works to buy a vase and informs their youngest sibling who remains unaware.

Producer