US firm buys ‘BuyBust’

Anne Curtis in “BuyBust”

Another piece of good news from Berlin: “BuyBust,” Erik Matti’s coming Anne Curtis-led action flick, has scored an international deal.

Well Go USA has secured the North American rights to “BuyBust.” According to Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Roxborough, the US firm will mount “a platform theatrical release” for the Filipino movie later this year, “followed by a digital and home video rollout.”

The film centers on an antinarcotics squad that gets involved in a raid gone awry.

Matti told the Inquirer: “Selling foreign language films nowadays isn’t easy. More than getting noticed in international film festivals, a sale in different territories is as important.”

Paving the way

He explained: “Aside from the financial reward that can get back the investment and allow us to continue making films, this sale will pave the way for Filipino cinema to be seen by many across cultural boundaries.”

Hollywood Reporter quoted Well Go USA’s Dylan Marchetti, who described Matti as “always top of class when it comes to Filipino genre films.”

Marchetti asserted: “But with ‘BuyBust,’ Matti has outdone himself. If you lose your mind for an amazing action film, the last hour of [this film] is going to blow your head clean off.”

Well Go is the same firm that distributed the hit zombie flick, “Train to Busan,” in the United States.

Marchetti negotiated and finalized the deal with Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films, the film’s worldwide sales agent, at the Berlinale.

“We had been in talks with Well Go for almost a year now,” Matti recalled. “We had to move our local theatrical release to coincide with the North American screenings.”

Matti pointed out: “Personally, I think this [development] further reinforces how we look at making movies in our company Reality: to create films that are very Filipino with a strong potential to cross over in the international market.”—BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR.