“Under the banyan tree” is a documentary exploring the inner world, memories and experiences of a 103-year-old Philippine woman, Nana Jessie.
The life of a woman who at 18 left her birthplace in Cuba, to travel across land and ocean all by herself, to meet her future husband, Marcial Lichauco, in Manila. This is the portrait of a life full of adventure and unusual situations, embracing from before World War II to the present day. A house packed with old books, antiques, exotic objects, stuffed wild animals, photo albums, cats, dogs and a huge two hundred year old banyan tree next to the Pasig River, will be the supporting actors at the background of her memories.

Through them and a clownish historical guide named Carlos Celdrán, we will discover the history of a country, the traces of the Spanish and North American colonization, as well as the violent Japanese invasion during World War II.