Eileen Cabiling
DirectorDarlene Malimas, Jericho Rosales
ProducerPhilippines
CountryLogline
Manuel, addicted to crystal meth, is forced into rehab, where he confronts his darkest secret: he killed his beloved wife, an aswang—a mythical Filipino vampire—to save their newborn daughter. Now, with his daughter’s 13th birthday approaching, he fears whether she will reveal a human heart or a vampire's curse.
Short Synopsis
Widowed father Manuel Rivera (33) struggles with crystal meth addiction while raising his 12-year-old daughter, Sunshine, with whom he shares a deep bond. However, when he is mandated to rehab, Manuel is forced to confront the haunting memories of his wife Luce's death during childbirth—a death shrouded in secrecy.
Seeking answers of her own, Sunshine, without her father's knowledge, discovers her mother's abandoned barrio. Crawling into her mother’s crypt, she finds it empty and hears eerie whispers. As she crawls out, blood seeps from her fingernails, leaving her horrified by what it could all mean.
Meanwhile, in rehab, Manuel grows close to fellow addict Carmen (29) whose tough exterior conceals a depth that resonates with his own struggles. Feeling an attraction for the first time since Luce's death, he confesses his darkest secret to her: By day, Luce was a loving and witty wife; by night, she became a terrifying aswang, a Filipino vampire hungry for human blood. Though contained by a shaman’s spell, her monstrous nature was unleashed a hundredfold during Sunshine's birth. Luce begged Manuel to end her life to protect their newborn, fueling his guilt and addiction. Manuel also reveals, with great sadness and guilt, that his beloved Sunshine is completely unaware she may inherit the aswang curse on her 13th birthday. Seeking more answers, Sunshine confronts her godfather, Ninong Ben (50s) who reveals disturbing truths about her mother’s past—an illness that manifested at night. The childhood games she played with her father and Ninong Ben were actually rituals meant to protect her from a darkness inherited from her mother. Trusting her father's romantic tales about her mother, Sunshine is completely shaken when she realizes he hasn't been truthful.
As Manuel's secret unravels, everything comes to a head: Carmen, his newfound love, dies of an overdose, and Sunshine's critical 13th birthday looms, threatening their father-daughter bond.
At her school’s fiesta, dressed as the school’s patron saint, Sunshine turns to her father’s escape and uses crystal meth for the first time, hallucinating her mother as a monstrous figure and fleeing in terror.
Manuel rescues her from this nightmare, and together they confront deeper truths about Luce. Ninong Ben, who has been a shaman in disguise all this time, performs a ritual to connect with Luce’s spirit, revealing the complex legacy of the aswang curse intertwined with profound love.
On the eve of Sunshine’s thirteenth birthday, they climb a mountain, uncertain if she will inherit her mother's curse. As they watch the sunset, her transformation begins. Manuel realizes he must let Sunshine go and allow her destiny to unfold with love, not fear. This fear, this terror, was a deeply rooted survival mechanism—a fear of losing her love and purity, something that could never be lost, for their love is eternal.
Eileen Cabiling
Eileen Cabiling, a Filipina filmmaker, delves into the colonized psyche of the Filipino diaspora. Her debut short, "Basurero," won the Philippine Movie Press Award for Best Short in 2021, premiered at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival, earned a Golden Gate Award nomination, and competed globally.
Her feature debut, “Lihim na Luha,” a 2024 Red Sea Lodge semi-finalist, targets late 2025 production, produced by Darlene Malimas, France’s Woooz Pictures, and co-produced by Jericho Rosales. Her TV series "Pamilya," in development, featured at the 2022 International Gotham Market and was a 2024 Almanack Episodic Lab semi-finalist.
Cabiling is co-writing with Director Martin Arnaldo on "Summer Solstice," based on Nick Joaquin’s classic short story, and "Amok," inspired by painter Juan Luna's life, with Rise Pictures led by Nick and Erika North (Former Head of Amazon Originals). Additionally, she is the co-writer of “LOVE VISA"" with director PJ Raval and New York producer Derek Nguyen, a 2023 Sundance Catalyst semi-finalist.
An American Film Institute Fellow and William J. Fadiman Screenwriting Award recipient for Best Screenplay in her graduating class, Cabiling’s film industry career spans film, TV, animation, and documentaries with independent productions and major studios like ABC-Walt Disney, Discovery, and Disney Plus Asia.
Darlene Malimas
DCM Autodidact Films was founded in 2014 by Darlene Malimas operating as a media consultant and production company based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Over the years, DCM Autodidact functioned as an affiliate of Autodidact Films of US-based filmmaker and producing partner, Isabel Sandoval. It has also serviced two of the largest TV networks in the Philippines, ABS-CBN and GMA TV as production supplier, film curator and license broker. Through the years, the company has also helped local content creators with the executive production of various digital content and channels. DCM Autodidact was attached as a producer of "Basurero", the multi-awarded short from the Philippines which competed and world premiered at the Busan International Film Festival. In 2021, DCM Autodidact through Darlene Malimas acting as EP was involved in bringing to life a cultural-culinary travel series called "Hereatage" airing in the Thailand-based streaming platform, TrueID. Assisting the casting for the Amazon Original, "Expats" by Lulu Wang, Darlene through DCM Autodidact conducted Philippine auditions and aided in facilitating in a few of the shoots in Manila. For her recent project, the first Filipino-British film - "Raging Grace", DCM Autodidact acted as the company which facilitated, among others, the auditions, music licensing, costume-related assets from the Philippines.