With interviews with National Artists Lamberto Avellana and Lino Brocka and myriad talents from the Mowelfund community such as Nick Deocampo and Raymond Red, Beyond Mainstream documents the robust energy of nascent independent filmmaking in the country in the 80s. Based on Nick Deocampo's first book Short Film: The Emergence of a New Philippine Cinema (1985), it features the first Independent Film and Video Festival held in the Wave Cinema in Cubao, Quezon City, the first video theater in the country.