Hold My Gaze

Genre
Drama

Project Status
Advance Development, Financing

Expected Shooting Location
Taiwan & The Philippines

Logline
Three damaged souls seek to mend their broken selves through the love of another. But no one is able to hold the gaze of their lover, under the shadow of the ever-present third.

Synopsis

Aldo and Charles are brothers. At least that’s how it’s always been after they escaped their fates of being separated while living in an all-boys orphanage in the Philippines. Since then, they have relied on only each other to keep them going past their teens and into young adulthood. Through the years, they eat and starve together. Sleep together. Dream together. Survive together. Until one day Charles disappears. Many years later, Aldo tracks his brother down and finds Charles now living in Taiwan as an undocumented illegal immigrant. But even more surprising is that Charles is now married. His wife is a woman named Izumi, a divorced traditional dancer, maimed by the guilt of causing her own child’s death. The contented Charles is thrown into disarray when Aldo, whom he left all those years ago in the Philippines to support his education, shows up, wanting to reignite the relationship they once had. Terrified that looking back into his past might affect his current life, Charles tries to turn Aldo away. But when Izumi welcomes Aldo into their home, she begins to discover secrets that unravel not just between the two brothers, but with her in the middle. Aldo, Charles, and Izumi soon find themselves entangled in an intricate web of secrets, desires, and love – their lives intertwining in a delicate but passionate romance that threatens to destroy more than it promises to satisfy.

Director
Carlo Enciso Catu

Carlo Enciso Catu is a 29 year old, multi-awarded Filipino filmmaker from the region of Pampanga. His debut film, Ari: My Life With A King premiered at the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), travelled to local and international festivals, and was named one the 50 Best Filipino Films of the 21st Century by Pinoy Rebyu (Society of Filipino Film Reviewers). In 2016, he was the youngest Gawad Urian nominee for Best Director (Philippines’ equivalent to the Oscars). His second feature, Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon (Waiting for Sunset), was awarded Best Feature Film and the NETPAC Jury Prize at the 2018 Cinemalaya Film Festival. With the aim of helping regional filmmakers from outside the capital of Manila tell their stories, he has also started his own production company, YATU. He is an alumnus of Full Circle Lab, ASEAN-ROK Film Leaders Incubator (FLY Cambodia 2016, FLY Higashikawa 2017, FLY Alumni Program Singapore 2018), Cinepanulat: Ang Screenwriting Lab ni Jun Lana where he won the Best Screenplay Award for Lilac, and the 14 Sundays Scriptwriting Workshop of Ricky Lee where his script, Hold My Gaze was born.

Producer
Bradley Liew

Bradley Liew, a Malaysia-born and Manila-based filmmaker, is the CEO and Head of Project Acquisitions & Development at Epicmedia Productions Inc. With an impressive list of accolades and achievements, Bradley has established himself as a prominent figure in the film industry. He has participated in esteemed programs and labs such as the Asian Film Academy, NAFF Fantastic Film School, Berlinale Talents, Talents Tokyo, and Locarno Filmmakers Academy, among others. His debut feature film, “Singing in Graveyards,” a Malaysian-Philippine co-production, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival Critics’ Week and went on to screen at numerous international festivals, winning awards in Kolkata and Malaysia. Bradley’s second feature film, “Motel Acacia,” made its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival and garnered distribution deals in North America, Japan, and Southeast Asia. As a producer, Bradley focuses on championing directors with unique voices, working on projects such as Lav Diaz’s “Season of the Devil” and Gerardo Calagui’s “Those Long Haired Nights.” He is also involved in various long-form narrative series, including “The Tapes” for iWant/Netflix and “Ayizah, Ayizah” for HBO Asia’s Folklore Season 2. April Batican, a Filipino producer from Epic Media Productions, has transitioned from advertising to film production and has gained extensive experience in line producing local films and producing international co-productions. She is an alumna of esteemed programs such as Rotterdam Lab and SGIFF SEA Producers Network. April’s producing credits include films like “Mighty Robo V,” “Mina-Anud,” and “The Manila Lover,” and she has line produced films like “Motel Acacia” and “In My Mother’s Skin.” Currently, April is producing Carlo Enciso Catu’s “Hold My Gaze.” She is driven by curiosity and strives to develop thought-provoking films that tell meaningful stories based on universal truths.

Company
Epicmedia Productions Inc

Epicmedia Productions Inc. is a Philippine-based film production company, founded in 2011 and led by producers Bradley Liew and Patti Lapus. Its mission is to create movies that matter by collaborating with fearless filmmakers and discovering the next generation of storytellers. The company’s notable credits include Kenneth Dagatan’s In My Mother’s Skin (Sundance 2023 Midnight Section) which sold to Amazon, That Thing Called Tadhana (2014) which became one of the highest grossing independent films in Philippine’s box office history and for producing Lav Diaz’s, Berlinale Silver Bear winning A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (2016), Berlinale 2018 Main Competition musical Season Of The Devil and the ARTE France supported five country coproduction: When The Waves Are Gone (2022) which premiered in Venice Out of Competition. Epicmedia’s core specialty involves international coproductions with titles such as Above The Clouds (Tokyo IFF 2014, Philippines-France), Beast (Toronto IFF 2015, Philippines-Australia), Singing In Graveyards (Venice Critics’ Week 2016, Philippines- Malaysia) and Motel Acacia (Tokyo IFF 2019, Philippines-Slovenia-Singapore-Taiwan-Thailand) and Nocebo (Ireland-UK-Philippines) by Lorcan Finnegan starring Eva Green and Mark Strong. Epicmedia places special focus on collaborations within the Southeast Asian region. It is the delegate producer of Truong Minh Quy’s Viet and Nam while co-producing Southeast Asian titles like, Tan Chui Mui’s “Barbarian Invasion”, Mouly Surya’s “This City Is A Battlefield” and Pham Ngoc Lan’s “Cu Li Never Cries”. The company has also provided content to HBO, Netflix, Mubi, Cignal TV, iWantTFC and Astro Malaysia.