Nonilon Torpez

Trapped in a surreal realm woven from memory and regret, a broken man must confront his deepest past traumas—guided by his late brother—to face an unsettling truth about the wounds we inflict upon ourselves.

During the American colonial period in Brgy. Paraiso, Sagay City, Negros Occidental, the American-owned Insular Lumber Company established one of the largest hardwood logging operations in the world under a government forest concession. The film follows Caloy, a young laborer sent to deliver the payroll to a hacendero’s mansion on the night a catastrophe descends upon Sagay. As it tears through the workers’ settlement, the hacendero couple remains sheltered inside their mansion.

In 1980s Bacolod, at the height of Martial Law, Teopisto—a principled yet warmhearted barber known for his strictness and gentle hands—works in a once-prestigious barbershop. Within its wall’s, customers from all walks of life reveal their quiet anxieties, loyalties, and doubts—turning each haircut into a glimpse of a nation in turmoil. As the conversations deepen and tensions rise, Teopisto’s long-held neutrality begins to crack as he is pulled into the very currents of change he once chose to ignore.

Just as she was about to give up on her pursuit of companionship, traumatized, nine-year-old Sol meets and befriends a forest spirit on her tenth birthday, making way for an exploration of healing, identity, and desire in the remaining days before she enters a new school.

Anson witnesses the life and dreams of his father hoping one day he could do the same. Just like many people who live in the same neighborhood, he and his family share an adventure of a lifetime at the heart of downtown Bacolod City.