Anne Curtis‘ new action thriller BuyBust opened at the 14th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo and internationally at the New York Asian Film Festival, South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival.
Directed by Erik Matti, BuyBust depicts the story of a rookie police officer Nina Manigan who joins the anti-narcotic elite squad. Two teams are deployed to conduct a buy-bust operation in the slums of Manila. Realizing that the mission is poorly executed, the anti-narcotic squad finds themselves trapped by a gang of slum settlers and needs to fight their way out to escape.
The internationally recognized action film was co-produced by Reality Entertainment and Viva Films. BuyBust is deemed as one of the most ambitious first full-on action films in recent Philippine cinema history. With a budget of over ₱80 million, the film employed more than 300 stuntmen and used over 250,000 grams of gunpowder.
It began its film production in 2016 and the shooting ended in March 2017. BuyBust is topbilled by the Filipino actress Anne Curtis as the lead role, and MMA fighter Brandon Vera. The cast includes actors Victor Neri, Arjo Atayde, Nonie Buencamino, Lao Rodriguez, Alex Calleja, Levi Ignacio, Ricky Pascua, Joross Gamboa, Sheenly Gener, Mara Lopez, AJ Muhlach, Tarek El Tayech, Maddie Martinez, Nafa Hilario, Ian Ignacio and Mikey Alcaraz.
Anne Curtis trained rigorously for the role with martial arts, knife training and consulted with Scout Rangers and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency officers. It was certainly a hardcore training with a popular actress and a glimpse of a new Anne Curtis, which is usually seen in dramatic roles in mainstream movies and hosting jobs in prime time TV.
ABS-CBN News website reported that the action film debut of Anne Curtis received a much coveted 100% “fresh” rating from review website Rotten Tomatoes. BuyBust is set to be released in North America on August 10, via distributor Well Go USA.
Cinemalaya is the country’s biggest indie film festival, which runs from August 3 to 12, at various venues of the CCP and selected Ayala Mall Cinemas. For Cinemalaya indie film schedule visit the film festivals official Facebook page.
Press release courtesy of Cinemalaya & CCP
Photos courtesy of BuyBust Facebook page
