Christians constitute over 90% of the population of Catholic Philippines. Historically, however, an Islamic dynasty had settled in the Philippines long before the Spanish invasion, which pushed the Muslims to Mindanao, in the southern part of the country. This documentary vividly shows the conflict area of the Philippines, little known to the outside world. The Muslims had demanded independence for Bangsamoro for 40 years before they opened peace talks with the Philippine government in 2012. The Crescent Rising was filmed while the Bangsamoro Basic Law was being considered in the Philippine parliament. The film focuses on four people, each in a different situation: a middle-aged man who, as a soldier of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), has devoted his whole life to teaching Islam; a young man who had joined the MNLF as a boy and became a Jihad warrior; a woman who lost her husband to the war and seven children to disease, and now lives as a refugee; and a teenaged girl who fights for the innocence of her sister, accused of being a sniper for the MNLF and is in prison. Both the people of Mindanao, who have suffered decades of war, and the government claim and undivided Philippines wants peace, but in reality the road to peace is narrow and much of it is winding.