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A staple of New Filipino Cinema (and thus comparable, in more ways than one, to the works of such directors as Lav Diaz and Mes de Guzman), Sherad Anthony Sanchez's ensemble drama Huling Balyan Ng Buhi: O Ang Sinalirap Nga Asoy Nila (The Woven Stories of the Other) presents a gossamery, casually-strung narrative, about several distinct social groups gliding into head-to-head conflict with one another. The action unfolds in a rural village - that of Napalico, in the Arakan Valley of North Cotabato, Philippines. While a cadre of government-backed soldiers (including at least one ardent homosexual) camps out in Napalico proper, a group of insurgent Communist revolutionaries from the New People's Army bivouac in the nearby mountains and rave over the abuses of American imperialism. At the same time, a young brother and sister, estranged from their mother, wander aimlessly and endlessly in the woods in search of that elusive maternal figure but never quite seem to be able to reach her. And, in her own corner of the town, priestess attempts to converse with the local river - an action which suggests that she is teetering on the brink of total madness.