‘Sunshine’ Director Antoinette Jadaone Launches Ilaya Ilaya, Unveiling Genre Slate Led by Angelica Panganiban and Eugene Domingo; Maris Racal Theater Debut
QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES—Filipino filmmaker and producer Antoinette Jadaone, whose Maris Racal-starring Sunshine won the Crystal Bear in Generation 14plus at the 2025 Berlinale, is launching Ilaya Ilaya, a new Philippine production company with a debut slate spanning genre films, television originals, and an immersive theater adaptation.
Jadaone will run Ilaya Ilaya with longtime collaborator and producer Reign Anne De Guzman (That Thing Called Tadhana, Sunshine, Fan Girl), who has worked with her since their time at Star Cinema, when Jadaone was a script continuity supervisor and De Guzman was a production assistant.
“I think what I’m most looking forward to is being able to tell stories that we really believe in,” says De Guzman. “Hopefully, through Ilaya Ilaya and the stories we make together, we can get more Filipinos to appreciate and fall in love with Philippine cinema.”
For Jadaone, Ilaya Ilaya is both a continuation and a course correction: a more deliberate commitment to championing Filipino cinema, women-led stories, unappreciated genres, and filmmakers whose work struggles to find support outside traditional studio systems and grant and festival funding cycles.
Leading the slate is Birdsong—a found-footage horror film directed by Pam Miras (Medusae, Pascalina) and written by Glenn Barit (Cleaners), with Irene Villamor (The Loved One, Midnight Girls) on board as creative producer. The film follows an ornithologist who travels to a remote mountain in search of a mythical bird, while also seeking closure over her partner’s disappearance a decade earlier. The project recently won the Kantana Sound Studio Asian Project Award at the Bangkok International Content Market 2026.
“It’s our first time working with Pam Miras as a director, and it is in a genre that is male-dominated,” says Jadaone, citing found-footage touchstones such as The Blair Witch Project. “We really love the way Pam handles experimentation in her films; we thought she would be the best director to bring to life the vision of Birdsong.”
Ilaya Ilaya is also developing Chandra Catacutan and the Curse of the Fuchsia Moon, a supernatural comedy from Tim Rone Villanueva, whose Cinemalaya 2025 fantasy comedy-drama Child No. 82: Anak ni Boy Kana caught Jadaone’s attention last year. The film stars Eugene Domingo (Sisa, The Woman in the Septic Tank) as the eldest daughter of a manananggal whose children reunite after their mother suffers a stroke mid-air and fails to return to her lower half. Jadaone says Villanueva’s work showed the kind of resourcefulness and pop culture fluency she wanted Ilaya Ilaya to champion.
“When she first approached me, I couldn’t believe it,” says Villanueva. “It’s difficult to make a film nowadays, especially because of inflation and the conditions of the Philippine film industry. But I’m glad Direk Tonet and Ilaya Ilaya see potential in this. It’s a new take on the Filipino family, and I’m glad we aligned on this dream: to bring back the hearty Filipino comedy.”
“The dream was shared to me: to bring people to the cinema, hear them laughing, and let them have a good time,” says Domingo. “I want to give back to the industry that has given me so many opportunities and recognition. This is the time to work with creative, crazy good people who still believe in Philippine cinema.”
The slate also includes Crème de la Crème, a coming-of-age whodunnit to be directed by Irene Emma Villamor. Written by Glenn Barit from a story by Natts Jadaone, the film is partly inspired by a 2006 incident at Philippine Science High School in which two male students laced a classmate’s water jug with mercury nitrate, preventing her from attending the graduation march.
Jadaone herself is returning to directing with Boldstar, a dark comedy starring Angelica Panganiban and produced by Bianca Balbuena (Filipiñana, Sunshine, Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors). The project won the CJ Entertainment Prize at the Asian Project Market in 2019 and was later selected for the Berlinale European Co-Production Market in 2020.
Balbuena says Boldstar emerged from the momentum of Fan Girl and a period of political anger over misogyny and the treatment of women in public life. After several delays, including Panganiban’s pregnancy, Jadaone’s work on Sunshine, and Balbuena’s leadership role at ANIMA studios, the team is now reviving the project.
“We are reviving the project as it feels very ripe and momentuous now, especially after Antoinette’s Crystal Bear win in Berlinale and sold-out local screenings of Sunshine,” says Balbuena.
Panganiban, who has worked with Jadaone and Balbuena since the 2014 breakout romantic comedy That Thing Called Tadhana, says she agreed to return to the project because she trusted in their long creative relationship.
“The work evolves as the friendship evolves. I became more comfortable with her behind the camera; that’s why I can trust her right away with her vision and ideas,” says Panganiban. “Direk Tonet isn’t afraid to change the formula. Whatever leaps she wants to take for Boldstar, I’ll join her, even if my hips have gotten weaker.”
Beyond film, Ilaya Ilaya is expanding into television, with Jadaone showrunning Netflix Philippines’s original romcom series. Plot and casting details remain under wraps, but the project is co-written with Fatrick Tabada (Flower Girl, Replacing Chef Chico, The Kangks Show), marking Jadaone’s return to the genre that helped establish her as a local favorite nearly a decade after Love You to the Stars and Back.
“Before I became a director, I was a romcom fan. They’re so central to who I am,” says Jadaone. “It took me a while to get back to this mindset… because I wanted to do other things and I enjoyed doing those other things. But returning to the genre is something special to me.”
“We’re thrilled to partner again with Antoinette Jadaone, whose creative vision and signature "kilig" storytelling have resonated with Filipino audiences everywhere,” says Vitto Lazatin, Director of Content at Netflix Philippines. “Replacing Chef Chico was our first-ever local series, delivering two things Pinoys love: romance and Filipino cuisine. We’ve seen how much our members loved the show, so when she approached us for another new series, we were immediately keen to begin exploring together.”
Rounding out the slate is an immersive stage adaptation of Sunshine, to be directed by Mikko Angeles (Bar Boys: The Musical) and written by Mika Regis (Unica Hijas), with Racal returning to the role in her stage debut. The project is envisioned as a choose-your-own-adventure experience that places audiences inside Sunshine’s world, expanding the film’s questions around agency, complicity, and choice beyond the screen.
“When you’re watching a film, you’re there to just watch Sunshine make decisions,” says Jadaone. “But what if Sunshine’s story was something you could hold and influence as an audience member?”
Racal says the chance to revisit her character onstage is both daunting and exciting. “The thought of playing [her] in front of so many people is overwhelming,” says Racal. “At the same time, that’s what also makes it exciting because I know Direk Tonet is creating something really immersive, something different from traditional theater.”
Angeles says the adaptation will preserve the spirit of the film while pushing the material into new form. “We’re very fortunate to have Tonet’s blessing to really play with the material—to take Sunshine out of its original frame, hold onto what is essential, and interrogate what else becomes possible,” says Angeles. “That freedom is exciting because it allows us to question not only how the story is told, but where the audience stands in relation to it.”
“Sunshine is brave and necessary cinema,” says Regis. “I feel honored to be part of the team working to bring this material to theater and make it just as necessary onstage.”
For Jadaone, Ilaya Ilaya was created to become a more deliberate home for Filipino filmmakers and storytellers, particularly women-led stories and genres with deep roots in Philippine moviegoing culture.
“Before we were filmmakers, we were lovers of Philippine cinema,” says Jadaone. “We want to be more intentional now about telling stories and working with people who demonstrate a genuine love for Philippine cinema.”