Midnight dancers = Sibak

This low-budget portrait of three brothers who make a living in Manila as “Macho Dancers” or “sibak” (a slang term for male prostitutes), filmed in the streets and in the bars of Manila, offers a rare insight into gay culture in the Philippines. The eldest, who at 23 is verging on being too old for his profession, has a wife and child but is also openly involved with a wealthy older man. The second brother lives a life on the streets selling his body while attempting to avoid the violently homophobic police. Against the admonishments of his mother, the youngest travels to the city to join his brothers in the sex trade. He soon becomes romantically involved with a transvestite and they begin a steady relationship. Faced with the harsh reality of poverty, their mother is forced to accept her sons efforts to support the family. Although the direction and performances are uneven, and the voyeuristic focus on the dancers lithe bodies overly gratuitous the film is an indictment of the abhorrent conditions of crime, poverty and homophobia faced by sex workers in the Philippines. Cast: Ryan Aristorenas, Perla Bautista, Richard Cassity.