MANILA -- Multi-awarded director Erik Matti is “not enough” to propel a production outfit by his lonesome into churning out award-winning and critically acclaimed films not only in the local front, but also in the international festival circuit.

That was what Reality MM Studios producer Dondon Monteverde shared when they introduced five new directors who recently joined the outfit in a non-exclusive contract.

“I’ve been in the industry for the longest time,” Monteverde told ABS-CBN News. “Dito na ‘ko lumaki. Hindi namin iiwan ‘to. Dito na kami mamamatay, kami ni Erik. Ito ang alam naming gawin.”

They are not office guys who will just sit on a chair and work nine to five. “During the pandemic, we worked hard trying to give not just jobs but producing quality content that we will be proud of,” Monteverde said.

“We know that it can be done. We have one great Erik Matti na bilib ako talaga. But then, kulang ang isang Erik Matti to make our mark out there.

“We recruited young blood to help. We plant the seed and hopefully, that seed will bring out the best of Filipino ingenuity when it comes to creativity and creating content. With them, we’ll be working with fresh, new and innovative content.”

The five directors, shortlisted from a large pool of young filmmakers, were screened based on their filmography and the sensibilities of their works.

“We wanted to see what kind of films they make,” Matti said. “We wanted to see a flavor that will cut across not just with the local audience but the international audience, as well.

“Not too much melodrama or love and romance, because they don’t cut across internationally. We wanted to see how they look at filmmaking beyond not just two people talking and how well they handle a story.

“We came up with a very short list, then we had a chat with them one by one. We asked them what’s your plan? How do you see yourself five years from now? Then we took the ones who were in sync and shortlisted the number.”

The directors are not stuck with Reality MM Studios. They are allowed to do films for other outfits.

Joseph Martin Agbayani De Guzman

Bamboo deadringer Joseph Martin Agbayani De Guzman was born in Manila, but his family migrated to New Zealand when he was eight. The second in a brood of four – all boys – De Guzman took up Digital Design at Auckland University of Technology.

He quit his job as a content creator, packed his bags and went to Manila in 2016. He said he returned to the Philippines to rediscover his cultural roots and tell Filipino stories.

He saw “On the Job” and sent an e-mail to Monteverde. He told the producer he had a show reel and concepts he wanted to present. The latter invited him on his holiday and planned to talk to him.

He was assigned TV work at ABS-CBN, directed TV commercials and a TV series for Regal and also worked in two films. In 2019, De Guzman made his directorial debut in the horror flick, “The Ghosting,” with Andrea Brillantes and Khalil Ramos.

This July, De Guzman makes his sophomore directorial outing with the Filipino zombie thriller, “Day Zero,” that got to join Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland. The film stars Brandon Vera, Pepe Herrera, Joey Marquez, MJ Lastimosa and Ricci Rivero.

A martial arts gold medal champion, De Guzman expressed his desire to make a film about Filipino martial arts, arnis, and show it to the world. He watched “The Raid,” which showcased silat, Indonesian martial arts, as well as “Ong-Bak,” which had Thailand’s muay thai. That inspired him to promote arnis.

Kerwin Go

If there is one director who worked earlier on a martial arts documentary, it’s 43-year-old Cebuano filmmaker Kerwin Go, an erstwhile cinematographer who helmed “Eskrimadors: A Filipino Martial Arts Documentary.”

Go also wrote the script of his work that merited a Gawad Urian nomination in 2010 for Best Documentary.

In 2017, Go made his directorial debut in a full-length film, “Mina-anud,” about an island in Eastern Samar where drug trade existed. The film received the Singapore Film Financing Forum 2017 Basecamp Color Prize and was eventually released in 2019.

Go is also a freelance director for TV commercials. He worked for the "Asian Air Safari," juggling his multi-tasks as writer, cameraman and director for the aviation and travel show on Asian News Channel.

He served as cinematographer for “Melodrama Negra,” an Audience Choice Award in the Cinema One Originals Film Festival in 2012, “Tuhog” in 2013 and “Dear Other Self” in 2017.

Kip Oebanda

Hearing Kip Oebanda’s story about how he grew up inside a prison cell in Bacolod, where his mom, Cecilia, once a member of the New People’s Army (NPA), jailed during Martial Law years, was jarring enough.

Oebanda managed to film his mom’s exploits in the 2018 award-winning Cinemalaya entry, “Liway,” the true-to-life story about Kumander Liway of the NPA, with Glaiza de Castro in the lead.

“We were supposed to work on a project pre-pandemic,” Oebanda shared. “Two weeks na lang, shoot na dapat. Ready na ang cast. Then biglang nag-lockdown. Hindi natuloy.”

Oebanda is preparing for an episode in “Rabid,” pertaining to social media. He is also working on a full-length horror film about social media.

He actually left social media after his research about how bad it is for society, mental health and creating a division among people. “I’m interested in exploring that a little more,” Oebanda said.

The last film he wrapped up before the pandemic was “Abandoned” (2019), where he worked with “Pinoy Big Brother” housemate Seth Fedelin. “He had zero acting experience but his performance was fairly well received,” Oebanda said about Fedelin.

Oebanda is also working on an adaptation of a hit Korean film, “Haunted Asylum.”

“I prefer na may audition process ang film ko even if they are profesionals,” he maintained. “I am not averse to working with unknowns.”

He finished Bachelor of Arts in Economics at San Beda College, then took up his Masters at the Asian Institute Management (AIM).

Siege Ledesma

She merely made a pitch with Matti about a grandma with a cat being hunted down by the authorities because the feline allegedly spread the zombie virus. After that, she already received an offer to join Reality MM Studios.

Subsequently, she was tasked to work on the script of “Inheritance,” a horror series.

After working for nine years as a call center agent, Ledesma, who finished Psychology at St. Scholastica’s College, had a quarter life crisis and enrolled in different Master of Arts courses, including Clinical Psychology.

“The first film I borrowed in the library was ‘History of Experimental Cinema in the Philippines’,” she recalled. “Then I told myself, parang may mali kasi Psychology ako. Then naglakas ako ng loob to enroll in a one-year filmmaking course at APFI (Asia Pacific Film Institute).

“At that time, I would submit works for Cinemalaya, Cinema One. Then, nagging finalist na ang script ko, ‘Shift’ (2013) about call center agents, sa Cinema One.”

The film won Best Picture in the 2014 Osaka Asian Film Festival in Japan and was chosen as the closing film at the 2014 Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy.

Ledesma did digital ads and co-writer in feature films. “Eventually, I want to be able to write and direct the dream project that I have,” she said. “Medyo mahal na. Karamihan sa kanila co-productions na at may shoot sa ibang lugar.”

She did workshops with screenwriters Doy del Mundo, Bing Lao and Ricky Lee. “Bawat isa may nahugot

For ABS-CBN, she was assigned to work in teleseryes like “Starla,” with Judy Ann Santos. In 2019, she joined a two-week writing workshop in Spain where she earned a filmmaker’s residency.

Dean Colin Marcial

Marcial is an international filmmaker whose award-winning films have been screened in different parts of the globe. In

He moved to Long Island, which is very different from Project 4 in Quezon City, and took up filmmaking at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University (NYU).

“Filmmaking was my link between Manila and New York,” he said. “Movies were the only thing that connected me.

“Life was otherwise very different. I moved to a very white Italian neighborhood with white picket fences. The way I could make friends was over ‘Star Wars.’ I saw all three of them when I was in Manila.

“I wanted to make films that cut across boarders because I grew up reading blockbusters, from Hollywood movies to foreign films.

“When I was in film school, I was trying to find my voice, but something was not clicking. So I tried a bunch of different genres.”

He owned a Brooklyn-based production outfit, Calavera USA, whose credits include films –“All That I Am,” “Fishtail” and “Yearbook” – that were shown and won awards at Tribeca and Sundance festivals.

“When I returned to the Philippines in 2011, I realized filmmaking was what I wanted to do,” Marcial said. “It felt very natural to me. This is the voice that I wanted to cultivate.”

He did two short films – “Manila Death Squad” (2016) and “Reminiscences of a Green Revolution” (2018) – that both starred Sid Lucero and Annicka Dolonius. The latter premiered in the Toronto Film Festival in Canada.

Two weeks after he signed up with Reality MM Studios, Marcial met with a Korean producer who pitched to him a fantasy romance, “The Fish I Love.” In February, he is leaving for Busan, South Korea to shoot with an all-Korean crew for 10 months.

Marcial cannot be thankful enough how Monteverde and Matti give him the support in personal projects that he wants to do. Presently, he is working on the script that is a “spiritual reimagining” of director Lino Brocka’s film, “Jaguar.”

“It’s a crime-thriller about a security guard who works in an old building along Roxas Boulevard in Paranaque,” Marcial shared. “I wanted something that is in the mood of Golden Age films in the US and the Philippines.

“Something along the lines of [Martin] Scorsese, [Francis Ford] Coppola, Brocka and [Marilou Diaz-Abaya] and Mike de Leon, but trying to update it right now. I want Sid to play the lead. I put him up there like Joaquin Phoenix or Robert de Niro because Sid is fearless.

“He always surprises me every time he goes to the set. He always brings an angle to the character that I didn’t even think about.”