The Debut
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| The Debut | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Gene Cajayon |
| Produced by | Dexter N. Adriano, Salvatore Baldomar Sr. |
| Written by | Gene Cajayon, John Manal Castro |
| Starring | Dante Basco Tirso Cruz III Eddie Garcia Darion Basco Dion Basco Derek Basco Gina Alajar Bernadette Balagtas Joy Bisco |
| Music by | Wendell Yuponce |
| Release date(s) | 2001 |
| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Language | English, Tagalog/Filipino |
| Budget | $1,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Debut is an independent Filipino American movie directed and written by first time Filipino American director/cowriter Gene Cajayon. It is the first such movie to have a wide American theatrical release.
The Debut is based on a 10-minute short film Cajayon had made as his thesis project at Loyola Marymount University and incorporated themes from John Manal Castro's short film called Diary of a Gangsta Sucka. The full-length film took nearly 5 years to create (finished in 1997), another 4 years to be released in theaters (2001), and another 2 years to be released on home video and DVD (2003).
The movie is widely considered to be a snapshot of Filipino life in LA during the early to mid '90s and touches accurately upon a variety of cultural themes including "appropriate" directions of college education (engineering, law, medicine, finance, sciences), family honor, acceptance by American whites, aping of gang culture, and a few stereotypes concerning food and home decor of a typical immigrant family.
[edit] Early Success
Prior to the film's release in 2001, the film was shown at various film festivals around the United States, including the Hawaii International Film Festival in November 2000. Critic Roger Ebert, in attendance, was given a private screening of the film and gave his famous "thumbs up" approval. The Debut won for audience award for Best Feature Film, beating out Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
[edit] The Actors
In addition to Dante Basco in the lead role of Ben Mercado, the film also features other members of the Basco family (Derek, Darion, Dion, Ariana), along with prominent Philippine actors Eddie Garcia, Tirso Cruz III, and Gina Alajar, as well as character actor Abe Pagtama. The Debut is said to be the first American movie to feature actors who are Filipino descent playing Filipinos.
