“It’s nice to travel, you meet new faces.”

Halina Mitchell is a half-Filipino half-American New Yorker who visits the Philippines for the first time to meet her relatives. Here she also encounters Cris, a struggling film critic whose passionate loathing for bad local movies reflects his views of modern Filipino sociaty.

Coming from completely different worlds, the two eventually learn from each other. Through Cris, Halina gets a quick course on Manila life, from driving through midnight traffic to listening to the Eraserheads, while she helps him gain a newfound appreciation of living in his own country.

From National Book Award-winning author Arnold Arre, creator of The Mythology Class , After Eden, Ang Mundo ni Adnong Agimat , and Trip to Tagaytay comes Halina Filipina,  a story about friendship, understanding, and love; about finding one’s identity and experiencing the joy of finally having a place to belong.