PHOTO CAPTION: Mercedes Cabral (top frame) and Neil Ryan Sese star in Ato Bautista's Di Nagtatapos ang Gabi

In 2010, Ato Bautista's Di Natatapos Ang Gabi won Best Picture in Digital Lokal Competition of the 12th Cinemanila International Film Festival. It can be considered one of the rare Filipino-produced movies in the film noir genre. French for "black film," film noir is characterized by an overall dark and shadowy outlook--being filmed in black and white.

The sexy flick stars indie royalties Neil Ryan Sese, Sue Prado and Mercedes Cabral.

Di Natatapos ang Gabi is shot in the mountains of Benguet, the city streets of Baguio and the beaches of Zambales. Even though the movie features bold sex scenes that are said to "challenge the senses," Di Nagtatapos ang Gabi has been approved without cuts by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

Roman (Sese), a heartless policeman-assassin wants out of his murderous life, enraging his Boss (Roy Alvarez). Roman meets street girl Nympha (Cabral) with whom he has a steamy one-night stand. Roman murders her in a fit of rage.

In a bizarre turn, a woman surfaces to admit to Roman's murder. She is Maria (Prado), the alleged lesbian lover of Nympha. Roman falls in love with Maria, and helps her escape.

But Maria leads Roman to a foggy netherworld in the mountains, where she changes personality into an innocent lass, Ligaya (Prado) married to a violent farmer (Tyrone Perez).

Now, Roman has to kill again to save Ligaya. Roman's sanity is threatened: Are Nympha, Maria and Ligaya the same woman? Is Roman really his original identity, or is he, too, a product of this surreal landscape? Can Roman escape his victims or have they come to exact punishment?

According to film critic Oggs Cruz in his review "Ato Bautista's film noir is carried more by mood than narrative. Set in Baguio, a city unlike any other in the Philippines because of its foggy and cool vistas, the film persists as an exploration of the psyche of its mysterious male protagonist, a degenerate cop whose romantic interludes are interlinked with his violent tendencies. The film's elegantly constructed visuals, Neil Ryan Sese's deliberately sparse acting, Mercedes Cabral and Sue Prado's seductive turns as volatile femme fatales, conspire with Bautista's confident direction to make this film an endeavor worth venturing into."

Di Natatapos ang Gabi is written by Shugo Praico and produced by Shandii Bacolod.

The film opens December 14, 2011 and distributed locally by FDL Entertainment.