The Filipino brothers have found a home…and they are fabulous.
As Filipino American History Month comes to a close this month, news was announced that 1091 Pictures has acquired all digital rights to Dante Basco‘s feature directorial debut The Fabulous Filipino Brothers. The family comedy will make its debut on digital platforms on February 8, 2022.
The film, which made its world premiere at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, Dante Basco co-wrote the film with his brother Darion Basco, and together they star alongside their entire family including brothers Derek Basco, Dionysio Basco and sister Arianna Basco. Like Mary J. Blige says, it’s a famiy affair.
Told in four vignettes from Northern California to The Philippines and with cockfights, adultery, romance, food, and family, the film follows four brothers while their Fil-Am family prepares for the ultimate Filipino event, a wedding.
Check out an exclusive clip from the film below:
“I wanted to make this film to pay homage to where I’m from… Both the places we come from and the stories of my family, from which is the foundation of who I’ve become,” said Dante Basco. “I got to write and cast my real life brothers to play The Fabulous Filipino Brothers in the film and in doing so, I got to direct the three actors I know best in the world, as we’ve shared a journey in Hollywood of 35 years now.”
He continued, “Getting a chance to write specific characters to play each actor’s strengths and being inspired by very intimate stories in our families folklore gave me a unique experience, it feels like everything in my career thus far has led me to making this movie, and just maybe people can see a little bit of their family in mine.”
1091 Pictures is certainly a good home for The Fabulous Filipino Brothers as the company has a diverse slate of films in both culture and storytelling. Their slate of films include many critically acclaimed titles such as What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, BPM, and documentaries such as Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice and A Kid From Coney Island.
“Representation matters and it’s been a point of focus for us to bring more AAPI stories to mainstream audiences,” said 1091’s head of content Eric Min. “Dante’s hilarious and heartfelt comedy is all about relationships and family dynamics with a cultural twist but maintains its universal appeal to make this deeply personal story both entertaining and accessible to a wide array of audiences. We’re proud to present this film with the Basco family and put a spotlight on the vastly underrepresented voices of the AAPI community.”
The film features international superstars Solenn Heussaff and Tirso Cruz III from The Philippines as well as Liza Lapira (The Equalizer”, YouTube star Joe Jitsukawa, and Joey Guilla (Bad Boys of Comedy). The film was produced in collaboration with LA based Management and Production company, TheMachine.
To celebrate the release, Dante Basco and cast will be doing a tour, presenting the film in-person in theatres nationwide in January and February 2022 with dates and locations TBA.
The deal was negotiated by Ronald Erickson II on behalf of the filmmakers and Eric Min for 1091 Pictures.
