A deadbeat dad returns as a ghost, but the real haunting is poverty.
On the eve of her school’s annual Talent Show in a small rural village in the mountains of Iloilo, twelve-year-old Thirdy is worried she will not be able to perform because she could not afford to rent a traditional costume and pay the required contribution. Her ailing but affable grandfather, Cesario, acts as her sole guardian. He works as a bamboo farmer, but they could barely make ends meet. In the midst of all these, Thirdy starts having visions of a mysterious man. She believes the apparition is that of her long dead father while everyone else dismisses her visions as nothing more than fantasies or illusions. On the day of the Talent Show, everything unravels as village problems and family secrets finally collide.
Direction
Malones captures Iloilo's mountains with lived-in authenticity.
Acting
Diocel Marie Raso carries crushing weight in every silence.
Cinematography
Bamboo groves that feel simultaneously sheltering and suffocating.
Director
TM Malones
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The bamboo ('bawod' in Hiligaynon) isn't just setting—it's Philippines' poor man's lumber, historically exploited by colonial economies.
TM Malones shot this during his MFA at UCLA; the ghost dad reportedly based on real absentee father narratives in Panay island.
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