Elvert Bañares
Directing
Known For

An unrequited love story between a free-spirited woman who openly expresses her affection to a younger shy woman who, in turn, struggles with her own feelings.
Astray

Nonoy and Toto are identical twins. Toto has always been the leader and has always been the stronger and the braver of the two brothers. All his life, Nonoy has looked up to Toto, learning what he can about everything. But things are about to change which will turn Nonoy’s life upside down.
Ang Duyan ko sa Panganod

An author of conventional horror books who suffers from an unknown illness experiences writer's block. Isolation and frustration force him to delve deeper into his creative demons in order to finally free himself from unwanted exhaustion.
Inside An Empty Raincloud

One bonfire-lit evening, Amang Baoy, an elderly Panay Bukidnon man, consoles his son, Rohan, by narrating through chant, a portion of the Suguidanon, an epic of the Indigenous Panay Bukidnon people of the Philippines, about love and resurrection. In an expression of hope and celebration, Amang Baoy imparts the Visayan hawk dance binanog to Rohan as they reminisce scenes from their Indigenous life.
The Flight of Banog
In the shadowy kingdom of Dumalángto, ruled by Aetudhaman, the one-eyed king, everyone is forced to believe that they are blind. While the king feeds on peoples' blood to gain more power, Elhanan, a sighted and discerning slave, gets enraged by the evil occurrences. Seeing the spread of darkness, famine and injustice, he awaits the right moment when he can get hold of the tattooed winged horse to attack the one-eyed king and fuel the flames of the masses to rebel against the dominion.
A Flame In Our Midst
Celso, a struggling fisherman and an equally struggling marine haven are both torn by a thin line of reality and fantasy - a mystery deeper than the deepest ocean. Celso finds himself in a predicament and goes through a sequence of events that lead to uncovering the truth.
The Woman in The Reef

Based on a poem of the same title, a young man reads a poem, reminiscing his afternoons by the Hoàn Kiem Lake in Hanoi, recollecting her Mother's story of a huge star above their house which he never saw and his vision of a blue bird that shed dry tears.
Red Sky, Purple Lake

In the kingdom of Dumalángto ruled by Aetudhaman, the one-eyed king who feeds on people’s blood to gain power, everyone is blind. Meanwhile, Elhanan, a sighted and discerning slave, gets enraged by the evil occurences. Seeing the spread of darkness, famine and injustice, he strives to get hold of the winged horse to attack the one-eyed king and fuel the flames of the masses to rebel against the dominion.
A Flame in Our Midst

Antonio, a middle aged man, comes back to his hometown after receiving news that his family went missing without any trace. Word has it that unknown beings that come at night are responsible for the deaths of the residents at Sankarlo.
Sila nga Maga-abot
This darkly lyrical prayer for forgiveness is the first Filipino short film to win the Best Independent Film Award from the Regions from the Cultural Center of the Philippines. An associative sequence of cemetery and religious motifs, based on a dark and shadowy contrast of light and shadow, follows the specter of a woman confessing her sins at her own grave.