In a world of chances, one family races for survival. Will they win or lose?
Director Adolfo Alix, Jr.'s Karera (international title: Ante) will bring viewers to the world of illegal bookies—the game of kings, played by the dregs of the earth.
All these years, the Domingo family has lived off on illegal horse race gambling. The numerous years have seen the widowed mother and three siblings through good and worst times.
A few days before Christmas, fate has caught up on them. Their source of livelihood is on the verge of extinction. And the family members have own issues to put up up with: the matriarch (Laurice Guillen) is unusually suspicious and disturbed about her own children's misdeeds; the elder son (Jay Manalo) wants a better-paying and more secure job abroad; the middle daughter (Rosanna Roces) is now a fugitive for illegal activities in the past; and the youngest sibling (Joem Bascon) seemingly unaffected by big and small crises their family is facing.
Alan Paule, Menggie Cobarrubias, Arnold Reyes, Marife Necesito, Kenneth "Tetay" Ocampo, Moises Magisa and Mercedes Cabral have supporting roles in this indie film.
After its gala premiere at the 2009 Cinemalaya Netpac competition, Karera screened as an official selection in the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival and in the 2010 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.
Written by Jerome Zamora, Karera is based on his own family's memoirs about the historic Sta. Ana race track. Direk Adolf shot this film in Sta. Ana as a way of documenting its last day race. On December 20, 2008, the race track was relocated to Trece Martirez, Cavite.
A review from the Rotterdam Film Festival described Laurice Guillen as "a very convincing lead" and described the film as "rather grim."
Jay Manalo produced this indie film, which had its gala premiere at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on July 23, 2009. Karera will finally be shown to the public through selected Metro Manila theatres starting December 15, 2010.