
Maria Estela Paiso
Directing
Biography
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 (2018) and When This Is All Over (2023).
Known For

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

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.
Cu Li Never Cries

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.
Gulay Lang, Manong!

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.
When This Is All Over

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.
The River That Never Ends

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

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.
A Short History of a Few Bad Things

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

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

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.
Mula sa Buwan

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.
What Did the Sky Tell You, Celso?

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.
Waves

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.
Tears are Part of the Ocean

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.
It's Raining Frogs Outside

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.
Brand X

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.
Boy Kilat

A young girl turns into a fish and recounts the struggles of the fisherfolk in her hometown, Zambales.
Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky
History is a bitch, and so is catching up with an old flame.