Francesca Dela Cruz

In the slums of Manila, 11-year-old Ginto dreams of gang life over scavenging, rejecting his sister Asia’s care as she turns to sex work to survive. As Ginto falls for another boy in the gang, he’s forced to confront his identity and desires amid violence and poverty. Meanwhile, Dutch tourist Michael, consumed by dark impulses, descends into the city’s red-light district. When their paths cross, Ginto faces an impossible choice that will shape both their fates in a world where innocence is currency and survival comes at a cost.

A group of transgender women belonging to a gang kidnaps foreign men to fund their gender-affirming surgeries, not knowing that their quest to free themselves to be who they are may end with them in prison.


A mother and son’s generational clash over the American Dream and fulfillment at home boils over at a Filipino family dinner, erupting in a battle for the last lumpia – the dreaded “dyahe piece.”