‘Sunshine’ Director Antoinette Jadaone Launches Ilaya Ilaya; Women-Led Slate Headed By Angelica Panganiban, Kaila Estrada, Eugene Domingo & Maris Racal

EXCLUSIVE: Filipino filmmaker and producer Antoinette Jadaone, whose credits include Berlinale award winner Sunshine, is launching a new production outfit Ilaya Ilaya with a slate spanning genre films, television originals and immersive theatre.

Jadaone will run the company with longtime collaborator and producer Reign Anne De Guzman (Sunshine, That Thing Called Tadhana), who has collaborated with her since they both worked at Star Cinema, where Jadaone was a script continuity supervisor and De Guzman a production assistant.

Through their new outfit, the duo aim to champion Filipino cinema, women-led stories, unappreciated genres, and filmmakers whose work struggles to find support outside traditional studio systems and festival funding cycles.

Leading the slate is Birdsong – a found-footage horror film directed by Pam Miras (Medusae) and written by Glenn Barit (Cleaners), with Irene Villamor (The Loved One) 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,” said Jadaone. “We really love the way Pam handles experimentation in her films.”

Ilaya Ilaya is also developing supernatural comedy Chandra Catacutan And The Curse Of The Fuchsia Moon, set to star Eugene Domingo (Sisa). The film is directed by Tim Rone Villanueva, whose credits include Child No. 82: Anak ni Boy Kana, which caught Jadaone’s attention when it screened Cinemalaya film festival last year.

Domingo plays the eldest daughter of a manananggal – a creature from Philippine folklore that can separate its upper torso from the lower part of its body. In Villanueva’s project, the children of the creature are reunited when she 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 wants Ilaya Ilaya to champion.

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 (That Thing Called Tadhana) and produced by Bianca Balbuena (Sunshine, Filipiñana). 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 said Boldstar emerged from the momentum of Jadaone’s 2020 film 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 the now defunct Anima Studios, the team is now reviving the project.

“The project feels very ripe and momentous now, especially after Antoinette’s Crystal Bear win in Berlinale and sold-out local screenings of Sunshine,” said Balbuena.

Beyond film, Ilaya Ilaya is expanding into television, with Jadaone showrunning an as-yet-untitled romcom series for Netflix Philippines. Plot and casting details remain under wraps, but the project is co-written with Fatrick Tabada (Flower Girl), 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. Jadaone previously worked with Netflix on Replacing Chef Chico.

“We’re thrilled to partner again with Antoinette Jadaone, whose creative vision and signature ‘kilig’ storytelling have resonated with Filipino audiences everywhere,” said Vitto Lazatin, Director of Content at Netflix Philippines.

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,” said Jadaone. “But what if Sunshine’s story was something you could hold and influence as an audience member?”

Commenting on the slate overall, Jadaone said: “Before we were filmmakers, we were lovers of Philippine cinema. We want to be more intentional now about telling stories and working with people who demonstrate a genuine love for Philippine cinema.”

De Guzman added: “What I’m most looking forward to is being able to tell stories that we really believe in. Hopefully, through Ilaya Ilaya and the stories we make together, we can get more Filipinos to appreciate and fall in love with Philippine cinema.”