2 weeks ago
EXCLUSIVE: Fire & Ice Media has acquired world income authorities crossed each territories to Bilyarista, directed by Italian-American filmmaker Phil Giordano and starring Loisa Andalio and Venice Best Actor victor John Arcilla.
Andalio plays Aya, a young female from Manila’s margins who sets her sights connected becoming a world billiards champion – only to beryllium pulled into a vulnerable gambling circuit by her hustler uncle, played by John Arcilla.
Arcilla became nan first Filipino and Southeast Asian character to triumph nan Volpi Cup for Best Actor astatine Venice Film Festival for his domiciled successful Erik Matti’s On The Job: The Missing 8 (2021), an grant that strengthened his world profile.
Fire & Ice Media said it is positioning Bilyarista as a commercially legible sports play pinch beardown crossover potential, describing it arsenic “a female underdog communicative group successful nan Philippines’ storied billiards culture, a world that has produced immoderate of nan sport’s astir celebrated world champions, pinch nan affectional architecture of a endurance thriller”.
The company, which develops and represents Filipino and Asian contented for world buyers, is targeting distributors and level programmers looking for Asian titles pinch unique section personality and accessible genre appeal.
“Bilyarista has nan operation buyers are looking for – a prima connected nan rise, a world-class supporting actor, and a mounting that is wholly circumstantial but instantly understood,” said Liza Diño, CEO of Fire & Ice Media.
“The Philippines has a existent billiards bequest connected nan world stage. This movie lives wrong that world and uses it to show a communicative astir talent, exploitation, and what it costs to beryllium discovered by nan incorrect people. That travels.”
Rising character Andalio antecedently starred successful Mikhail Red’s esports play Friendly Fire, which premiered astatine Hawai’i International Film Festival. Bilyarista marks a important escalation for nan actress, moving from a integer sports mounting to a physically and psychologically demanding lead domiciled built astir a existent diversion discipline.
For Giordano, nan movie deepens a imaginative business pinch Arcilla that began pinch short movie Supot, which won a Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award, premiered astatine nan Busan International Film Festival, and went connected to surface astatine aggregate Oscar-qualifying festivals.
A postgraduate of NYU’s Tisch School of nan Arts and recipient of nan Wasserman Award, Giordano developed Bilyarista through extended investigation into nan Philippines’ master billiards world. “Itoy represents each strategy that keeps bonzer talent from reaching nan top. That’s a communicative pinch nary border,” Giordano said
Fire & Ice Media’s Cannes slate besides includes Nigel Santos’ romanticist play Open Endings, astir 4 queer women who are exes turned champion friends, and caller catalogue titles Crosspoint and The Hearing.
