Directing

Maria Estela Paiso

Born in Quezon City, the Philippines in 1997, Maria Estela Paiso graduated with a degree in communication arts in 2016 and has since worked in post-production. After several music videos and visual experiments, she made Ampangabagat Nin Talakba Ha Likol, her debut film as a director. Maria Estela Paiso is known for Ampangabagat nin talakba ha likol (2022), A Short History of a Few Bad Things (201…

Known For

Waves

Hani is a young girl who had a traumatic past with Great Mother. She lives alone while taking care of her grandmother in the hospital, and struggles to overcome her fear of losing her last family member.

Boy Kilat

Boy Kilat · 2022

In a small fishing town in Cebu, six-year-old Junjun tries to run on water to escape his bullies with the help of a superhero named Boy Kilat.

Open Endings

Open Endings · 2026

MovieDramaComedy

Four queer women in their 30s who are exes-turned-best-friends navigate adulthood, love, friendship, chosen families, and everything in between.

Brand X · 2022

A bottle of shampoo dreams to be purchased by humans and live in a utopia known as Atlas. However, he discovers the truth about this existence so she goes on a journey to escape his fate.

Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky

Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky · 2024

Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky

MovieDocumentary

A young girl turns into a fish and recounts the struggles of the fisherfolk in her hometown, Zambales.

Mula sa Buwan

Mula sa Buwan · 2023

Mula sa Buwan is an original Filipino musical based on Edmond Rostand's timeless classic Cyrano de Bergerac. However, this is not your usual Cyrano. Although it retains the plot of unrequited love, question of beauty, and the relentless battle against compromise, the beloved story has been reimagined to tell a more familiar story: OURS.

Honey, My Love, So Sweet

Honey, My Love, So Sweet · 2025

Honey, My Love, So Sweet

In a decaying cinema in the heart of Manila, Life discovers first love through films and their new friend’s father.

It's Raining Frogs Outside

It's Raining Frogs Outside · 2021

It's Raining Frogs Outside

MovieDramaScience Fiction

The world is about to end. Maya is forced to go home to Zambales. Now, she must confront a house that terrorizes her as frogs rain outside.

Filmography

Sort

Waves

Hani is a young girl who had a traumatic past with Great Mother. She lives alone while taking care of her grandmother in the hospital, and struggles to overcome her fear of losing her last family member.

Screenplay

Boy Kilat

Boy Kilat · 2022

In a small fishing town in Cebu, six-year-old Junjun tries to run on water to escape his bullies with the help of a superhero named Boy Kilat.

Associate Producer

Open Endings

Open Endings · 2026

MovieDramaComedy

Four queer women in their 30s who are exes-turned-best-friends navigate adulthood, love, friendship, chosen families, and everything in between.

Editor

Brand X · 2022

A bottle of shampoo dreams to be purchased by humans and live in a utopia known as Atlas. However, he discovers the truth about this existence so she goes on a journey to escape his fate.

Story Developer

Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky

Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky · 2024

Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky

MovieDocumentary

A young girl turns into a fish and recounts the struggles of the fisherfolk in her hometown, Zambales.

Director

Mula sa Buwan

Mula sa Buwan · 2023

Mula sa Buwan is an original Filipino musical based on Edmond Rostand's timeless classic Cyrano de Bergerac. However, this is not your usual Cyrano. Although it retains the plot of unrequited love, question of beauty, and the relentless battle against compromise, the beloved story has been reimagined to tell a more familiar story: OURS.

Editor

Honey, My Love, So Sweet

Honey, My Love, So Sweet · 2025

Honey, My Love, So Sweet

In a decaying cinema in the heart of Manila, Life discovers first love through films and their new friend’s father.

Visual Effects

It's Raining Frogs Outside

It's Raining Frogs Outside · 2021

It's Raining Frogs Outside

MovieDramaScience Fiction

The world is about to end. Maya is forced to go home to Zambales. Now, she must confront a house that terrorizes her as frogs rain outside.

Director

The River That Never Ends

The River That Never Ends · 2022

The River That Never Ends

Along a river that undergoes a major change, Baby, a middle-aged transwoman, shuttles between her job as a companion-for-hire for strangers and her duty to her father. As the people around Baby start to disappear, she realizes that she has been left behind in a stagnating city.

Editor

Gulay Lang, Manong!

Gulay Lang, Manong! · 2024

Gulay Lang, Manong!

MovieComedyDrama

A struggling farmer joins forces with a local policeman to rescue his grandson and take down a marijuana cartel, triggering a deeply personal journey that tests their beliefs and integrity.

Editor

Cu Li Never Cries

Cu Li Never Cries · 2024

Cu Li Never Cries

A woman tries to cling onto dimming links to her past after inheriting a pygmy slow loris from her long-estranged husband; meanwhile, her niece prepares for marriage as the young couple ponders their gloomy future together. The present and the complex echoes of Vietnamese history are entwined before a contemplative and poetic perspective.

Post Production Assistant

What Did the Sky Tell You, Celso?

What Did the Sky Tell You, Celso? · 2024

What Did the Sky Tell You, Celso?

After discovering a hidden clause in his work insurance, CELSO, a factory worker, goes extreme and faces a life-altering decision, challenging reality to secure his family's future.

VFX Supervisor

A Catholic Schoolgirl

A Catholic Schoolgirl · 2023

A Catholic Schoolgirl

A 15-year-old A-student defies the views of her all-girls Catholic school as she confronts her feelings for a school nun.

Editor

When This Is All Over

When This Is All Over · 2023

When This Is All Over

When a rich kid slacker meets a working class breadwinner, the two form an unlikely friendship in spite of their differences. With the pandemic and society bearing down on them, they fight back by throwing the biggest illegal rave the lockdown has ever seen.

Editor

A Short History of a Few Bad Things

A Short History of a Few Bad Things · 2018

A Short History of a Few Bad Things

MovieDramaMystery

In the southern Philippine city of Cebu, a troubled detective struggles to solve a series of grisly killings, while a deep conspiracy works to keep the truth just out of his reach.

Editor

Nightbirds

Nightbirds · 2024

Mythology crosses Ivy's path when mystical Tigmamanukan bird helps her break free from her husband who gambles the couple's money in cockfighting.

Director

Tears are Part of the Ocean

Tears are Part of the Ocean · 2025

Tears are Part of the Ocean

In a mental rehabilitation center, a woman, newly turned sixty, with schizoaffective disorder, waits all year for her family to visit on her birthday. But as the day arrives, a typhoon threatens to derail her plans and her sense of reality.

Online Editor