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Erik Matti. Gretchen Fullido, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Gretchen Fullido

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1765188491169viber_image_2025-12-08_16-02-56-655.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-dragging" width="960"/>Erik Matti. Gretchen Fullido, ABS-CBN News</div>YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Filipino filmmakers delivered some of the biggest revelations at Creative Asia 2025, staged during the 20th anniversary of the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) where Netflix reaffirmed its deepening commitment to Southeast Asian talent and storytelling.As part of JAFF’s milestone year, Netflix showcased a renewed push for regional collaboration. Top Southeast Asian creators Erik Matti, Carlo Ledesma, Kimo Stamboel, Joko Anwar, Kulp Kaljareuk, Dee Lestari, and Ernest Prakasa headlined JAFF Creative Asia 2025, a program designed to elevate cross-border storytelling and celebrate the region&#x27;s fast-growing creative momentum.One of the biggest announcements came during a candid onstage Q&amp;A between Matti and Indonesian auteur Anwar. The Filipino filmmaker electrified the room when he declared that &quot;BuyBust: The Undesirables,&quot; a 9-episode dystopian action series, is coming to Netflix in 2026.Matti emphasized that the project is a bold showcase of Filipino excellence.&quot;When we were approached to do the series in a global scale, of course, we wanted to do a proud Filipino-made show. There&#x27;s a lot of characters in the nine episodes. In terms of style, one, we&#x27;re showcasing Filipino martial arts. It&#x27;s called Sayoc. We got Raf Kayanan, who does Marvel comics and is also a martial artist. He trains the Navy SEALs in the US. So, we got him to bring that new kind of martial arts to the Philippines,&quot; he said.Matti&#x27;s vision extends beyond action choreography to a vast fictional universe: &quot;In the series, Manila transforms into a dystopian mega-city called Capital and then the prison island called Matungao. We built a kilometer-long set over a mining site, all rocks and stones. Really, really tough terrain. We shot it seven hours away from Manila, two hours of it was just rough road.&quot;Matti stressed that the team wanted to capture the chaos, vibrancy, and contradictions of Philippine society: &quot;&#x27;BuyBust&#x27; is now a dystopian story where the Philippines has become a federalist government and all the prisoners because they want to clean up the whole country is being sent to an island. We moved on from the drug war story and made it about rich and poor and the powerful and the powerless, we talked about the Philippines as a country and if it’s possible to clean it up without going political, we shy away from political aspects because our country is very political at the moment.&quot;<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1765189672421viber_image_2025-12-08_16-02-58-100.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Carlo Ledesma. Gretchen Fullido, ABS-CBN News</div>Filipino director Carlo Ledesma, whose Netflix zombie film &quot;Outside&quot; became a breakout regional success, said the streaming platform made all the difference. &quot;I was getting emails from Mexico and Europe,&quot; he shared. &quot;People saying they loved the film. That&#x27;s because of streaming. The world is getting small. There&#x27;s no better time to be a filmmaker.&quot;Because of the overwhelming response, Ledesma hopes to make a sequel: &quot;I would really love to continue the story of &#x27;Outside,&#x27; I&#x27;m really fascinated by zombies and making zombie movies.&quot;Ledesma joined Kaljareuk (Ziam) and Stamboel (The Elixir) in the Creative Asia panel &quot;Behind the Undead: Zombie.&quot; For the first time, the region&#x27;s rising zombie directors came together, thanks to Netflix.&quot;It&#x27;s amazing, we all watched each other&#x27;s films,&quot; he said. &quot;I appreciated their zombie movies even more. We all have a different approach to our Zombies from our countries, but we&#x27;re all connected.&quot;The camaraderie was instant, and by the end of the event, the three directors had become genuine friends. Their bond became one of Creative Asia&#x27;s highlights, a symbol of Southeast Asia’s interconnected creative future.Netflix SEA content head Malobika Banerji said: &quot;We will be announcing a lineup for the Philippines next year. We do have big plans for the Philippines.&quot;She stressed the importance of authenticity. &quot;There is no formula for a hit. What matters is resonance. Trusting instinct and being proudly Filipino is what makes a story travel globally,&quot; she said. <div> </div><div>New film with Coco Martin</div>After the event, ABS-CBN News got to chat with Matti who excitedly shared that he will begin shooting his new film with Coco Martin in 2026 after he finishes &quot;BuyBust: The Undesirables.&quot;The film, &quot;On the Job: Maghari,&quot; is a prequel to the internationally acclaimed OTJ franchise. Martin will play the young Mario &quot;Tatang&quot; Maghari, originally portrayed by Joel Torre.&quot;Tatang is one of the most iconic characters we&#x27;ve created. Now we get to explore how he became that man,&quot; Matti said.The film is co-produced by CCM Productions and Reality Entertainment, deepening Matti and Martin&#x27;s creative partnership.Thanks to &quot;BuyBust: The Undesirables,&quot; the growing global reach of &quot;Outside,&quot; and the highly anticipated &quot;On the Job: Maghari,&quot; Filipino filmmaking is entering a new era in the global stage.As Matti put it: &quot;Filipinos are doing really good stuff and it&#x27;s time for the world to see it.&quot; And at Creative Asia 2025, the world finally did.

Filipino filmmakers delivered some of the biggest revelations at Creative Asia 2025, staged during the 20th anniversary of the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) where Netflix reaffirmed its deepening commitment to Southeast Asian talent and storytelling.

Filipino filmmakers delivered some of the biggest revelations at Creative Asia 2025, staged during the 20th anniversary of the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) where Netflix reaffirmed its deepening commitment to Southeast Asian talent and storytelling.

Filipino cinema shines at JAFF as Netflix expands Southeast Asia ambitions

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Filipino cinema shines at JAFF as Netflix expands Southeast Asia ambitions

Gretchen Fullido,

ABS-CBN News

Published Dec 08, 2025 06:30 PM PHT

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Erik Matti

Carlo Ledesma

Netflix

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