Based on The Sacrifice of Isaac (1635) by Dutch painter Rembrandt, Nick Deocampo’s Issak is a meditation on the complex relations between fathers and sons. Drawing out the homoerotic undertones of Rembrandt’s religious imagery, the film unfolds in two parallel stories. One depicts a boy who watches over his sick father, wishing to free himself from the latter’s domineering presence. In the other story, a biblical Isaac frees himself from his father, Abraham, who intends to kill him.

Private Wars is an autobiographical story of Deocampo’s search for his missing father. In an introspective journey that leads him from Manila to the island where he grew up, he collects and recounts stories about his father but is unable to find him. The fruitless search sparks deeper reflections on their tumultuous relationship. The family has a long history of traumatic experiences with war. Deocampo’s grandfather was executed during World War II, which motivated his son—Deocampo’s father—to join the guerrillas and fight the Japanese occupier. These details are interwoven with the filmmaker’s memories of his own private battles to reconcile himself with his queer sexuality and with the political struggle he experienced during the martial law between 1972 and 1986.