In much the same tradition as getting a telegram from the Queen here, in the Philippines when you turn 100 you get a payment of 100,000 pesos from the government. Lola, a modest trans woman living alone in her small home, has waited patiently for a year for her payment to arrive. While her home help prattles endlessly on what she could use the money for, Lola is silent and peaceful. She is finally going to have her gender confirmation surgery.
Only one sadness still touches her. The photos on her table shows the love of her life, a man now passed and gone. She still dances with him in her loneliness.
His son is young and wild, and he has finally ended up in jail. Lola brings him food and sees in him what remains of the man she loved.
101 Butterflies is a quiet and sensitive story about what matters in life, with a rare and respectful portrait of a trans elder.