Maguindanao-inspired debut seeks final backing at Busan market
Filmmaker E del Mundo is bringing debut feature “Once Upon a Time in the Philippines” to Busan’s Asian Project Market to close its final financing gap and move towards production, Variety reported on Oct. 11, 2026. The film is inspired by the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines. It will be del Mundo’s first feature.
The Asian Project Market is the finance forum staged within the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market, where directors present unfinished films to investors, sales agents and festival programmers. Its 2026 edition selected 30 projects, as reported by Variety in July. The 29th market runs from Oct. 10 to 13, 2026, according to the official listing.
The story is set in an invented locale that recalls the southern Philippines. It centres on Sam, a 19-year-old gas station worker caught up in killings by a political clan’s private army. The script stays with a civilian witness rather than officials or gunmen.
The real case behind it remains stark. In Maguindanao province in 2009, 58 people were killed. At least 32 of the dead were journalists and media workers. The attack is widely described as the deadliest single attack on journalists on record.
The lead producers are Kyle Nieva and Gian Carlo Librojo of the Philippines’ Screen Asia, working with Pamela Reyes. France’s Piano Sano Films and Norway’s DUOfilm are attached as co-producers. Idris Lettifi, Marie Fuglestein Lægreid, Linda Bolstad Strønen and Ingrid Lill Høgtun are credited as co-producers on the project.
Screen Asia previously produced del Mundo’s VR film “Yellowfin,” which premiered at Cannes. The new feature has since moved through a long lab circuit, including Cannes Cinéfondation L’Atelier and Producers Network, the Venice Gap-Financing Market, Locarno Open Doors, TorinoFilmLab and the Southeast Asian Film Lab at the Singapore International Film Festival. At Locarno Open Doors it received a development award and a Sørfond award. At TorinoFilmLab it received the FOCAL Resource Award.
Support to date includes France’s Aide aux cinémas du monde, administered by the CNC and Institut français, alongside Norway’s Sørfond, Visions Sud Est and Purin Pictures. The producers describe the project as being in advanced financing. Busan is the push to finalise the budget.
For audiences who know festivals only through red carpets, this is the earlier work. No trailer. No release date. The meetings held this week will decide whether cameras can roll.
