Judy Ann Santos, Jeanne Balibar and Stacey Martin are set to star in Filipino author Brillante Ma Mendoza’s new political drama “Ade,” which will be introduced to international partners at the Cannes Film Market, with Fire & Ice Media serving as executive producer alongside France’s Ghost City Films and Netherlands’ Human Films.
The project is also set to be one of the first feature films produced under the bilateral co-production agreement signed by France and the Philippines at Cannes last year.
“Aid” depicts a respected NGO worker dedicated to protecting children from the indigenous Aeta people of the Philippines who becomes increasingly entangled in the broader system of international humanitarian aid. Santos will play Ruby Dela Cruz, head of a grassroots organization serving the Aeta community, and Martin will play Angelique Dumont, a European humanitarian executive overseeing aid efforts across Southeast Asia. Balibar, who also works as a singer and stage actor, has co-starred with Arnaud Desplechins, Mathieu Amalric, Olivier Assayas and Jacques Rivette, and rounds out the main cast.
Santos previously co-starred with Mendoza in Mindanao (2019), for which she won the Best Actress award at the Cairo Film Festival. Martin’s recent works include Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, and Michel Hazanavicius’ Godard Mon Amour.
“I wanted to understand why, despite all the aid, there is so little real change,” Mendoza said. “I realized that even the best intentions can get sucked into a system that is bigger than the people they are trying to help. That unsettling truth is why I created Aid.”
Mendoza will be filming on location in Aeta Village, Pampanga province, which is his hometown and where he speaks the dialect. Production is scheduled to begin in October.
Liza Diño of Fire & Ice Media said of the project, “It’s a film that trusts the audience to sit with the discomfort and witness how care becomes complicit, and how systems of aid can outlast those created to serve people. This is a film that doesn’t look away.”
Ghost City Films, headed by producer Frank Pouliot, is also producing Abid Liongoren’s “Zaza Zatourner,” which has its world premiere at Annecy next month. “Does the end justify the means? This is the question ‘Aid’ raises, and the actresses’ powerful yet disparate backgrounds will help Brillante’s story resonate in a universal way,” said Pouliot.
“For Human Films, ‘Aid’ is exactly the bridge we are trying to build between European and Asian storytelling traditions, between arthouse ambition and urgent contemporary relevance. Collaborations like this don’t just cross borders, they transform the way we see cinema,” said Human Films’ Pavel Feldman.
Mendoza is one of the Philippines’ most internationally recognized filmmakers, with his films premiering and winning awards in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno.
