EXCLUSIVE: EST N8 has acquired worldwide rights to Jaguar, a Manila-set crime thriller from director Dean Colin Marcial, a Berlinale Talents Lab alumnus whose work has screened at Toronto, SXSW, Tribeca and Sitges film festivals.
The ensemble cast is led by award-winning Filipino actor Elijah Canlas – known for indie breakout hits Kalel, 15 and Sunshine – along with U.S. actor David Call (Tiny Furniture; James White), Sid Lucero (Lav Diaz’s Norte, The End of History) and Cinemalaya Best Actress winner Gabby Padilla (Kono Basho).
Also featuring in the cast are Ruby Ruiz, who starred in Prime Video series Expats, Soliman Cruz (To The North), Venice best actor winner John Arcilla (On The Job 2: The Missing 8) and Isabel Sandoval (Lingua Franca). The film also marks the feature acting debut of Dilaw Obero, the frontman for Filipino rock band Dilaw.
The film follows a young security guard in Manila who accidentally witnesses a high-profile murder involving an American movie star. Described as a combination of Filipino genre cinema with American indie grit, the film explores themes including class, power and corruption.
Supported by Purin Pictures and Film London, and winner of the Mocha Chai Laboratories Post-Production Grant at the QCinema Project Market, the film is produced by Braden Friedman (Little Accidents), Bam Manlongat (Under Parallel Skies) and Marcial.
Executive producers include A/Vantage Pictures founder Jason Michael Berman, whose credits include Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest and Ben Affleck’s Air; Galileo Mondol (The Creator) and veteran Filipino producer Moira Lang (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, Norte, The End of History).
EST N8 will launch international sales on the title at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Market. The deal for worldwide rights was brokered by Sophie Shi for EST N8, and Bianca Grimshaw with Rebecca Theodore at Granderson Des Rochers LLP on behalf of the filmmakers.
“I was just blessed to work with an amazing cast and director that always collaborated to elevate the scenes in the film,” said Canlas, who won several Best Actor awards for his role in Jun Robles Lana’s Kalel, 15 and stood out in Antoinette Jadaone’s social drama Sunshine.
“I feel like audiences are craving for unique and fresh ways of telling a story and that’s what we aimed for with Jaguar: a film that follows an ordinary Filipino worker that spirals into unknown territory.”
Sophie Changhui Shi, EST N8 Head of Studios, said: “Jaguar hits the sweet spot for international distributors – it’s an auteur-driven crime story with visceral genre elements and an exceptional festival pedigree that showcases the extraordinary creative energy coming out of Southeast Asian cinema right now.”
“Dean Colin Marcial and his team have crafted a story deeply rooted in the local atmosphere while possessing universal tension, further elevating high-concept Asian genre cinema on the world stage. We are thrilled to introduce this raw, electric thriller to global buyers at TIFF.”
Marcial noted: “We set out to shoot an incendiary crime story that’s a snapshot of present-day Manila – the bleeding edge of east & west. Sophie and the rest of the EST N8 team share our vision for the film and are champions of the emerging SEA New Wave.”
Jason Michael Berman said: “I really believe Jaguar announces Dean as a great new talent. It’s also a genuinely cross-cultural film – pairing a prolific American actor with some of the biggest Filipino stars, and standing as a terrific U.S.-Philippines co-production.
“Partnering with the team at EST N8 to launch Jaguar on the international stage at TIFF ensures that this collision of indie filmmaking and Filipino genre reaches the wide global audience it was made for.”
The international sales push and global rollout strategy for Jaguar will be led by EST N8 executives Jan Paul Villanueva (EVP, Acquisitions & Global Distribution), Cathy Ni (Head of Sales) and Shams Pasha (Sales & Marketing Executive).
EST N8’s TIFF Market slate also inclues B-EST Pictures’ Thai horror debut Tame, Chan Chun-hao’s Taiwanese thriller Dead End, Rezwan Shahriar Sumit’s IFFR Big Screen Award winner Master, and Tetsuya Mariko’s Dear Stranger, starring Hidetoshi Nishijima and Gwei Lun-Mei.
