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The next film by leading Asian director Brillante Mendoza and the directorial debut of New York Asian Film Festival director Samuel Jamier adorn the 2025 production slate of Philippines label Fire and Ice Media.

The company is headed by Liza Diño-Seguerra, a former actor and previous head of the Film Development Council of the Philippines. The company’s recent collaborations include a minority stake in Nicole Midori Woodford’s “Last Shadow at First Light” that premiered at the San Sebastian festival, and co-production “Blue Imagine,” by Urara Matsubayashi which had its world premiere at the Rotterdam festival.

Mendoza’s project “Cocoon” is a story inspired by the director’s relationship with his daughter and was written by Rocky Fajardo and Angel Mendoza. The film follows a Philippines American veterinarian and her African American fiancé as they navigate the intersections of family, culture, and identity. French producer Raphael Gindre, known for “Funny Birds” and “We the Coyotes,...

Director Jun Robles Lana is a committed advocate of all queer aspects of life, which he has portrayed in his body of work with contrasting tones of voice, from the theatrical colorfulness of “Die Beautiful” to the dark realism of “Kalel, 15”. “Becky & Badette” sits without a doubt in the former group and, despite not being strictly (no pun intended) a gay story, is as camp as Christmas. A mix of classic comedy of errors and the familiar “high school reunion” genre, peppered with many innuendos and Filipino in-jokes, “Becky & Badette” is pure fun from start to end, and also one of those films you can imagine the cast and crew having a great time while shooting it.

Becky & Badette is screening at UdineFar East Film Festival 2024

Becky (Eugene Domingo) and Badette (Pokwang) are two women in their forties, working as janitors in an all-colourful-girl office and living...

Recently-established Philippines-based production and financing company, Fire and Ice, has deals to provide completion funding to two films being produced by prolific Singapore-based independent producer Potocol. Under a related agreement, Fire and Ice has also struck a multi-faceted first-look deal with Potocol.

The completion funding, which gives Fire and Ice a share of the film’s equity, will permit the completion of post-production of upcoming Potocol titles: “Pierce,” a sports drama by Nelicia Low, and “Last Shadow at First Light,” by Nicole Midori Woodford. Both films were recently showcased at Focus Asia’s Far East In Progress, part of the Far East Film Festival in Udine, and are expected to be completed before the end of the year.

The first-look agreement covers titles on Potocol’s slate including a project by Rafael Manuel, winner of a Silver Bear in Berlin in 2020 for his short film “Filipinana,” and another by cinematographer...