Manila by Night follows denizens of the city's sordid yet exuberant underworld as they pursue their notions of life, love, and pleasure. In turn, this book follows the film's equally arduous yet exhilarating journey through repression and censorship to a reluctanct release by the Marcos government as proof of its liberalism during the 1986 uprising.

Joel David: Joel David is an Associate Professor of Cultural Studies at Inha University, Korea. He holds a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies at New York University. The author of several books on Philippine cinema, he had won the Manila Critics Circle's National Book Award for Film Criticism, among other prizes. He was founding Director of the University of the Philippines Film Institute.