Filipino filmmaker Antoinette Jadaone, whose Sunshine won a Crystal Bear at Berlinale, is launching a new production company with longtime producer Reign Anne De Guzman. Ilaya Ilaya arrives with a slate that spans found-footage horror, supernatural comedy, a coming-of-age mystery, a dark comedy, a Netflix Philippines romcom and an immersive stage adaptation of Sunshine.
The founders met at Star Cinema, where Jadaone was a script continuity supervisor and De Guzman a production assistant. Their stated aim is to support Filipino cinema, women-led stories and genres that struggle to find backing outside studio and festival cycles.
The slate at a glance
- Birdsong: found-footage horror directed by Pam Miras; winner at the Bangkok International Content Market 2026.
- Chandra Catacutan and the Curse of the Fuchsia Moon: supernatural comedy with Eugene Domingo.
- Crème de la Crème: coming-of-age whodunnit directed by Irene Emma Villamor.
- Boldstar: dark comedy starring Angelica Panganiban, produced by Bianca Balbuena.
- Untitled Netflix Philippines series: romcom showrun by Jadaone.
- Sunshine stage adaptation: immersive theatre with Maris Racal returning.
A genre-first bet
Jadaone says she wants to work with filmmakers who show a genuine love for Philippine cinema, not just names with financing attached. Birdsong is an early test. The project follows an ornithologist who travels to a remote mountain in search of a mythical bird while seeking closure over her partner’s disappearance a decade earlier. Jadaone noted the horror space is male-dominated and that she likes how Miras handles experimentation.
Jadaone put it plainly:
“Before we were filmmakers, we were lovers of Philippine cinema. We want to be more intentional now about telling stories and working with people who demonstrate a genuine love for Philippine cinema.”
The comedy route is equally deliberate. Eugene Domingo will play the eldest daughter of a manananggal, a Philippine folklore creature that can separate its upper torso from its lower body. In the story, the creature suffers a stroke mid-air and cannot rejoin her lower half, forcing her children back together.
From festival laurels to commercial formats
Jadaone is not leaving her festival track behind. Boldstar, starring Angelica Panganiban, won the CJ Entertainment Prize at the Asian Project Market in 2019 and was selected for the Berlinale European Co-Production Market in 2020. Bianca Balbuena said the project feels timely now, especially after Sunshine‘s Berlin win and sold-out local screenings.
The Netflix series is the strongest commercial signal. It marks Jadaone’s return to kilig romcom storytelling nearly a decade after Love You To The Stars And Back. Vitto Lazatin, director of content at Netflix Philippines, said the platform was “thrilled to partner again” with Jadaone, citing her “signature ‘kilig’ storytelling.”
The Sunshine stage adaptation pushes the same IP into a choose-your-own-adventure format. Jadaone framed it as a move from watching Sunshine make decisions to letting audiences influence them. For marketers, that is a test of whether film IP can become an interactive live experience without losing the core story.
The launch matters beyond one production house. It is another signal that Southeast Asian creators are bundling festival credibility, genre literacy and streaming access into single slates rather than chasing one-off projects. For media planners and platform teams, Ilaya Ilaya offers a watchlist of talent and formats that could travel beyond the Philippines.
Source: Deadline
