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Production has begun on “Salvageland,” a neo-Western from the Philippines’ Rein Entertainment that sees veteran actor Richard Gomez return to theatrical features after an extended hiatus.

The project represents a homecoming for director Lino S. Cayetano, who steps back into feature filmmaking after spending 15 years focused on television directing and producing duties at Rein Entertainment, the company he co-founded.

Set in a fictional town near Metro Manila against the volcanic landscape of Mount Pinatubo, the thriller centers on a veteran police officer and his rookie son who must defend their station when a crime syndicate target seeks sanctuary with them. The scenario forces the family duo into a violent confrontation that will challenge their relationship and survival skills.

Gomez, a major star in Philippine cinema since the 1980s, headlines the cast alongside character actor Mon Confiado (“Heneral Luna”) and rising talent Elijah Canlas. Canlas has garnered significant acclaim for his dramatic work,...

“Game of Thrones” veteran Iain Glen’s latest role is portraying Major General Leonard Wood in “Quezon,” the upcoming historical drama from acclaimed Filipino director Jerrold Tarog.

In an interview with Variety from the film’s set in the Philippines, Glen discussed his preparation for inhabiting the role of Wood, who served as governor-general of the Philippines from 1921-1927 and was instrumental in Manuel L. Quezon’s quest for Philippine independence from the United States. The film is a biopic that chronicles the life of Filipino lawyer and soldier Quezon, who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944.

“Quezon” stars Jericho Rosales in the title role of Quezon and the cast also includes Mon Confiado, Benjamin Alves, Karylle Yuzon, Romnick Sarmenta, J.C. Santos and Cris Villanueva.

“I was sent the script and, hold my hands up, I didn’t know a great deal about Philippine history...

“Game of Thrones” veteran Iain Glen has joined the cast of Tba Studios’ historical biopic “Quezon,” it was revealed on the sidelines of Hong Kong FilMart.

Glen, known for his role as the loyal Jorah Mormont in HBO’s fantasy series, will portray Leonard Wood, the U.S. Army major who served as governor-general of the Philippines from 1921-1927. Wood was instrumental in Manuel Quezon’s quest for Philippines’ independence from the U.S.

The film, directed and co-written by Jerrold Tarog is a biopic that chronicles the life of the Filipino lawyer and soldier Manuel L. Quezon, who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. Jericho Rosales plays Quezon, and the cast also includes Mon Confiado, Benjamin Alves, Karylle Yuzon, Romnick Sarmenta, J.C. Santos and Cris Villanueva.

Glen recently participated in a script reading at the Manila Hotel in Manila alongside the film’s cast and crew.

Jericho Rosales has been tapped by Tba Studios to portray former President Manuel L. Quezon in an upcoming historical film titled Quezon. The project will chart the life of the Filipino lawyer and soldier who led the Commonwealth from 1935 to 1944, offering audiences a closer look at a figure whose legacy continues to spark debate.

Directed and co-written by Jerrold Tarog—whose previous works include Heneral Luna and Goyo: The Boy General—the film is scheduled to begin shooting in March 2025, with plans for a domestic and international release later that year. As part of Tba Studios’ ongoing series centered on Philippine history, the film joins the studio’s celebrated “Bayaniverse” lineup.

Joining Rosales is a cast featuring actors from Tarog’s earlier productions. Mon Confiado returns to portray Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon’s rival, while Benjamin Alves plays a younger version of the president. The film also includes Karylle Yuzon as Quezon’s wife,...

Exclusive: Philippine production and distribution company Tba Studios has cast Jericho Rosales to play the title role in its upcoming historical biopic Quezon.

Rosales will play Manuel L. Quezon, the Filipino lawyer and soldier who went on to become the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944.

The film serves as Rosales’ long-awaited return to Philippine cinema after a hiatus of several years; he was last seen on the big screen in 2018 romantic drama The Girl In The Orange Dress. On television, he recently starred in the hit Abs-cbn drama Lavender Fields.

Scheduled to start filming in March 2025, Quezon is directed and co-written by Jerrold Tarog, whose credits include the historical biopics Heneral Luna (2015) and Goyo: The Boy General (2018), both also produced by Tba Studios.

Also starring in Quezon are Mon Confiado and Benjamin Alves, who reprise their roles from Heneral Luna and Goyo: The Boy General. Confiado...

Manila serves as the host city for this year’s Journey Through Japan On Screen, a special program of the Japanese Film Festival (Jff) 2025. Screenings of four films and talkbacks will be conducted on February 15 to 16, 2025 at the Red Carpet Cinema, Shangri-La Plaza.

The screening schedule for the two-day event is as follows:

February 15, 2025

1:30 pm : “Komada : A Whisky Family”

4:00 pm: “ DitO “

February 16, 2025

1:30 pm : “The Dancing Okami”

4: 00 pm : “My Sunshine”

A talkback with director-actor Yuki Takashi, actor Mon Confiado, and director/writer/producer Mikael Joaquin will follow after the screening of DitO. A co-production of Japan and Philippines, it premiered in the Philippines during Cinemalaya 2024 and is also part of the Jff 2025 official lineup.

On February 16, Hiroshi Okuyama, director and writer of My Sunshine, will grace the talkback after the screening. His film was part of the Official Selection Un Certain Regard...

Filipino filmmaker Mikhail Red is taking another stab at the horror genre with his latest feature, “Lilim,” set for release in 2024. A teaser has been unveiled.

The film, which marks Red’s return to horror following his success with “Deleter,” which is one of the highest grossing Filipino horror films, and the upcoming “Nokturno,” has a narrative set against the turbulent backdrop of 1970s and 1980s Philippines. It follows the harrowing journey of a sister and brother who seek sanctuary in a secluded orphanage during a period of social unrest and enigmatic disappearances. What begins as a refuge quickly descends into a nightmare as the siblings uncover dark cult practices and confront an ancient evil lurking beneath the surface.

The project represents a significant milestone for Red, as it marks his first collaboration with his father, Raymond Red. The elder Red, renowned for his experimental super8 shorts in the 1980s...

Exclusive: Upcoming Filipino crime drama series Sellblock has wrapped principal photography and is headed for MIPTV. You can see four first-look images above.

Slated as a three-season series, Sellblock chronicles the activities of one of Asia’s biggest drug empires operating from inside a Philippines maximum-security prison. LA’s Blue Fox Entertainment has boarded the show and will launch it at the final ever MIPTV next week in Cannes, France.

The series is produced by Manilla-based BlackOps Studios Asia, headed by Pedring Lopez, who is known for Netflix’s Maria, Darkroom and Geisha of Death and also leads Psyops8. Lopez directs all eight episodes of the first season.

Blue Fox is handling sales, including the Philippines, and will be screening the pilot episode for buyers at MIPTV as it moves into TV distribution. Filipino producer Abs-cbn was initially attached to the show, but we hear it is no longer involved.

With a production budget of ₱80 million, “Heneral Luna” is one of the most expensive Filipino epic historical films ever released. On September 29, 2015, it broke the previous record of ₱160 million to become the highest grossing Filipino historical film of all time, while also being one of the highest grossing Filipino films of all time in general.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Spanish colonial rule over the Philippines came to an end and the country gained its independence on June 12. Unwilling to face humiliation, Spain secretly sells the archipelago to the victorious Americans for $20 million during the Treaty of Paris. It is during this time that the story of the movie begins at the Barasoain Church in Malolos, during a cabinet meeting over the growing American presence in the Philippines, which actually sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Cabinet members Felipe Buencamino and Pedro Paterno propose to...

Hollywood producer Scott M. Rosenfelt has joined Filipino TV crime-action series, “Sellblock,” as U.S.-based Blue Fox Entertainment joins as the show’s sales and distribution representative.

Planned as a three-season series, “Sellblock” chronicles the activities of one of Asia’s biggest drug empires which is operating from inside a Philippines maximum-security prison. Production is scheduled to start in May.

The cast is headlined by Jericho Rosales alongside actors Empoy Marquez, Ronnie Lazaro, Mon Confiado, Sylvia Sanchez, and Ria Atayde.

The show is produced by Philippines-based BlackOps Studios Asia, headed by Pedring Lopez. Lopez will direct all eight episodes of the first season.

“Pedring and I are very pleased to expand upon our growing relationship with Blue Fox Entertainment’s executives, Audrey Delaney and Lisa Gutberlet with ‘SellBlock,’ as we are already involved together in two feature projects, ‘CounterPlay’ and ‘Gi’,” said Rosenfelt. “We appreciate their standing in the...

Exclusive: HBO Max has acquired streaming rights to the family film Brie‘s Bake Off Challenge, from writer-director Emily Aguilar, for release today.

The story follows Brie Hayes (Devyn Leah), an aspiring 12-year-old baker who does everything she can to win first place in her school’s annual Spring Bake Off Challenge. Brie and her Bffl Millie (Mallory Vertman) must practice and motivate each other in order to win. On top of the actual baking challenges, Brie faces her “archnemesis” and bully, Vanessa Weiler (Delaney Disque), who also wants to win first place. Pressures and tensions rise as the stakes get higher and Vanessa’s crush, Jody (Camden Zapf), is also competing to win. The winner of the Spring Bake Off Challenge will win a whopping 5,000 and tickets to Cosmo Land.

Emily’s Bake Off Challenge also stars Stefannie Smith, Pry’ce Jaymes, Isaiah Givens, Sandy Lisiewski, Tony Amante, Adam Cooley,...

Philippines star Jericho Rosales has been announced as headlining the cast of “Sellblock” an upcoming scripted TV prison series. The show is hatched by Manila-based Abs-cbn and its production partner BlackOps Studios Asia.

It was first announced last month as part of BlackOps’ genre slate of projects with its creative partner Psyops8, and its coproduction partners Story Arch Pictures and Agog Film Productions. The Film Development Council of the Philippines has also voiced its support for this project.

BlackOps also announced that Hong Kong-based New Asia Ferrell Asset Management Limited is joining as a financial partner.

Other actors joining the cast of “Sellblock” include Tirso Cruz III, Cherry Pie Picache, Ronnie Lazaro, Rosanna Roces, Mon Confiado and Rk Bagatsing. Further acting leads will be announced in the coming weeks.

Former broadcast giant, Abs-cbn is the largest media and entertainment group in the Philippines and is now increasing its focus on content production for global audiences.

It’s not wholly clear how much Filipino filmmaker Mikhail Red wants his latest thriller, “Arisaka,” to be more than a faithful retread of the kind of lean B-movie that used to star Sylvester Stallone and, more latterly, reinvigorated Liam Neeson’s career. And it’s also not clear why he would nurse such aspirations: It’s the very competence of the action sequences (some dodgy CG arterial blood spray aside) and the strict adherence to the gritty actioner playbook that leave a faintly sour taste when the film attempts even the mildest commentary on real-world issues.

. Her presence, plus Red’s rising profile following 2019’s “Dead Kids,” the first Philippine Netflix film, should guarantee a degree of local success for the project. But its relative blandness makes it a harder sell anywhere its survival-meets-vengeance hero’s journey feels like a well-trodden path. Which is to say, almost everywhere.

Mariano...

Philippines production company Ten17P produced thriller.

Toronto’s Raven Banner has boarded worldwide sales to Filipino filmmaker Mikhail Red’s latest film, the thriller Arisaka.

Maja Salvador stars in the story of a policewoman who, in order to escape her captors, must retrace the route of the Bataan Death March, when the Japanese Army force-marched tens of thousands of American and Filipino Second World War prisoners. Mon Confiado also stars.

Philippines production company Ten17P, whose credits include Lav Diaz’s A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery and Paul Soriano’s Mananita produced.

Raven Banner’s Cannes Marché sales roster include Slumber Party Massacre,...

Cult Filipino filmmaker Mikhail Red is deep in post-production on action thriller ‘Arisaka.’ The shoot was temporarily delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic and following Covid-safe production protocols, principal photography was completed in the third quarter of 2020.

News of the film was first announced by Variety during the Singapore Media Festival’s Southeast Asian Film Financing Project Market in 2019.

Variety has been given exclusive access to the first teaser for the film.

In “Arisaka,” a policewoman must retrace the trail of the Bataan Death March, a forcible transfer of some 60,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese army during WWII, in order to escape her captors. The film is named after a World War II Japanese bolt-action rifle.

The cast includes Maja Salvador (“Thelma”) and Mon Confiado (“Heneral Luna”).

Philippines production house Ten17P, which has credits including Lav Diaz’s “A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery,” Paul Soriano...

Ato Bautista's Palitan (roughly translated as Exchange) opens with a business transaction. Ramiro (Mon Confiado, who gives a performance that carries the film from start to finish), the shrewd owner of an electronics shop, is convincing a client to buy his surveillance cameras. The client, troubled by his wife's brazen infidelity, wants to build proof of her cheating. Ramiro then coolly suggests another one of his wares, a pistol, declaring that the only way for a jealous husband is to kill the cause of jealousy. Ramiro is a convincing businessman. He has a distinct way with words, delivering them with the primary objective of making a sale and enjoying the profit. His client, given the freedom of choosing the surveillance camera or the gun, is hooked...

In an age in Philippine cinema where filmmakers and their films are thirsting for a local market at the risk of solely relying on the international film festival circuit for an audience, a genre of films persisted, with a captive market that was loyal to it no matter how technically inept and creatively insipid the films were. Queer cinema took over the space the titillating films of the nineties outgrew. Initiated by Cris Pablo's ultra-low budget meditations on the gay lifestyle that were shot on digital video, these queer films were mostly independently produced, a quality that separated it from the sex-oriented films of the nineties which were heavily supported by the country's profit-hungry mainstream film studios. As a result of the genre's indisputable profitability, which in turn opened it to exploitation by more enterprising producers who opt to concentrate on what drew viewers to pay and watch, which...