Director : Brillante Ma Mendoza
Script : Honee Alipio
Cinematographer : Joshua A. Reyles
Montage : Ysabelle Denoga, Armando “Bing” Lao, Peter Arian Vito
Editing : Albert Micheal Idioma
Music : Diwa De Leon
Cast : Shogen, Beauty Gonzales, Ronnie Lazaro, Kaho Minami
Production :
Center Stage Productions
Gentle Underground Monkeys
Brillante Ma Mendoza
Takahiro Yamashita
Krisma Maclang Fajardo
Contact :
SC Films International
[email protected]
Year : 2022
DCP, Color, 110 mn, OV tagalog with french and english ST
Kim Ji-seok Prize, Busan 2021
European first screening
Nao Tsuyama, a Japanese athlete, aspires to become a professional boxer but the government refuses to give him a license because he is an amputee. He makes the tough decision to leave his mother and sister at Okinawa to pursue his dream in another country, as if it was the only way to heal his broken limb and soul. Nao goes to GenSan City in the Philippines in order to train with other young Filipinos under the supervision of Ben, the owner of the GenSan Punch gym. He finds him a coach, Rudy, an exhausted boxing champion who introduces him to the sports authorities. He will have to prove his worth. They impose several conditions one of which is to win three consecutive fights. “I became aware of the difference between those who fight to acquire a professional boxer's status, whether they are disabled or not, and Filipino boxers who most of the time start boxing in order to escape poverty and survive, to meet their most basic needs and hope for a better life for their families, for whom personal success and even fame are secondary, and that I think is very Filipino.” Brillante Ma Mendoza