17th New York Asian Film Festival

Jun 29 - Jul 15, 2018

FilmsGuestsTalks & EventsSchedule & Tickets

Photo: Courtesy of Reality Entertainment

World Premiere

BuyBust

After two decades making erotica, fantasy, horror, thrillers and a superhero comedy, Erik Matti directs his first all-out action film. And it’s relentless, featuring 309 stuntmen, 1,278 extras, and a wildly ambitious three-minute, one-cut action scene in which superstar Anne Curtis fights back hordes of thugs across rain-drenched rooftops. Curtis stars as Nina, a rookie police officer on a doomed buy-bust operation with an elite anti-narcotic squad. Matching The Raid and The Villainess in scope and body count, the director of On the Job and Honor Thy Father also takes a sharp knife to contemporary political realities in the Philippines. A Well Go USA release.

Director: Erik Matti
Cast: Levi Ignacio, Arjo Atayde, Victor Neri, Brandon Vera, Anne Curtis
Languages: Filipino with English subtitles
2018; 127 min.; DCP

SCHEDULE:

Sunday July 15, 8:30pm
SVA Theatre

Q&A with director Erik Matti and actors Anne Curtis & Brandon Vera

Anne Curtis

Anne Curtis moved from Australia to her mother's native Philippines when she was 12-years-old. After being scouted for a child beauty pageant, she made her acting debut as Princess Dahlia in fantasy Magic Kingdom (1997), co-written by Erik Matti. After learning Filipino, her acting career took off in the mid-2000s when she headlined her first TV-series. In 2011, romance No Other Woman won her Best Actress at the FAMAS Awards as well as breaking records as the Philippines' highest grossing film. 2018 marks the latest turning point in her career with roles in Irene Villamor's Sid & Aya and Matti's BuyBust.

Brandon Vera

Skilled in kickboxing, wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, US-born Brandon Vera has been a competitive mixed martial artist since 2002. Now based in Metro Manila, he currently holds the heavyweight champion title of Southeast Asia's One Championship. He made his acting debut in Erik Matti's Buybust as a drug enforcement agent. Upcoming projects include zombie apocalypse film Hawa, in which he plays a father protecting his family; and Sean Yim's action film The Wind Breezes On, in which he plays an undercover cop opposite Hong Kong's Dennis To. He is expected to defend his MMA title later this year.

Erik Matti

Erik Matti is one of Asia's most ambitious filmmakers. An assistant director to Peque Gallaga, he made his debut with Scorpio Nights 2 (1999), a sequel to his mentor's erotic classic. He has made subversive horrors (Pa-siyam, Seklusyon), world-building fantasy epics (Tiktik, Exodus), gritty crime dramas (Ekis, On the Job) and costumed superhero films (Gagamboy, in-production Darna). While always audience-focused, Matti and his films are becoming more political; they have recently focused on systemic corruption and religious hypocrisy in the Philippines. BuyBust is his headiest achievement yet, spinning high-octane action tropes into a scathing commentary on the ongoing drug war.