'"New Moon"') is a 2001 Filipino drama film co-produced and directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya from a story and screenplay she co-written with Ricky Lee and Jun Lana.
[2] Produced and distributed by Star Cinema, the film was theatrically released on December 25, 2001, as an official entry of the 27th Metro Manila Film Festival and won seven awards including Best Actor to Cesar Montano, Best Child Performer to Jiro Manio, and Best Original Theme Song to Joey Ayala's Walang Hanggang Paalam.
While many of his kind are bent on fighting, thinking that Mindanao is only for the Muslims, Ahmad prefers to live a simple and peaceful life.
He works as a doctor in Manila while his wife, Fatima (Amy Austria), and his only son, Ibrahim, stay in Mindanao with his mother, Farida (Caridad Sanchez).
Ibrahim’s death did not cause Ahmad to stop striving to live a peaceful life, much to the consternation of his brother, Musa (Noni Buencamino).
Ahmad, in his new role as the leader, discovers the pain and suffering that innocent people have gone through and still, go through just because they find themselves in the middle of a war they never instigated.
Near the end, Musa and Rashid join the rebels, Francis returns to his parents, and Fatima and Farida descend from the mountains to teach the kids what they learned.
[6] She developed the screenplay with screenwriters Ricky Lee and Jun Lana after gathering research and immersions about the topics through libraries and madrasahs and communications with the Muslim communities in the National Capital Region and Mindanao.