Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures will disburse $140,000 to three Philippines and one Indonesian film as part of its fall grants.
The Purin committee has chosen three fiction and one documentary projects for production support and one documentary project for post-production support.
“The Remotes” is John Torres’ first fiction film after two decades of making documentaries. “Filipinana” by Rafael Manuel is expanded from a short film and was recently awarded at the Asian Project Market in Busan. “Jaguar” by Dean Colin Marcial is an urban thriller that straddles the gap between independent and mainstream genre cinema. Rounding out the selection are two documentaries, “Bariles” by Sheryl Rose Andes and “Planet of Love” by Ika Wulandari, that examine marginalized livelihoods in the Philippines and Indonesia respectively.
Production Grants ($30,000 for fiction films, $15,000 for documentary films)
“The Remotes.” Director: John Torres. Producer: John Torres. Production Company: Los Otros (Philippines). Two sisters with superpowers race against time to track a voice that controls human avatars, haunted by the revelation it could be their dead mother.
“Filipinana.” Director: Rafael Manuel. Producer: Jeremy Chua. Production Company: Potocol (Philippines, Singapore, U.K.). New tee girl Isabel feels strangely drawn to Doctor Palanca, the president of the exclusive golf and country club where she works.
“Jaguar.” Director: Dean Colin Marcial. Producer: Bernadette Ann Manlongat, Moira Lang. Production Company: Reality MM Studios (Philippines, U.S.). Bowie, a lone security guard working the night shift, becomes the sole witness to a murder in his old condominium in the middle of Manila.
“Bariles.” Director: Sheryl Rose Andes. Producer: Bryan Kristoffer Brazil. Production Company: Manila Montage Inc. (Philippines). When seawater becomes warm, tuna fisherman from a small village in the Philippines have to face life they never could have imagined.
Post-production Grants ($50,000 for fiction films, $35,000 for documentary films)
“Planet of Love.” Director: Ika Wulandari. Producer: John Badalu. Production Company: One Take Media (Indonesia). A nanny who works in an orphanage for children with HIV takes care of her stubborn grandson, one of the foster children at the orphanage.
Purin Pictures is a non-profit film fund that supports independent cinema in Southeast Asia. Started in 2017 under the Purin Foundation, its activities cover film production, exhibition and education. The fund is managed by filmmakers Anocha Suwichakornpong (“Come Here”) and Aditya Assarat (“Ten Years Thailand”).
Suwichakornpong said: “This session half of all the submissions we received were from the Philippines. Because of various local support schemes and a just-do-it mentality, Filipino filmmakers continue to create interesting and varied works.”
The call for entries for the spring 2024 session opens on Feb. 1, 2024.