Our Company

Epicmedia Productions Inc. is a Philippine-based film production company, founded in 2011 by Bianca Balbuena and Pepe Diokno. Currently led by CEO Bradley Liew and COO Patti Lapus, its mission is to create stories that matter by collaborating with fearless filmmakers and discovering the next generation of storytellers.

Epicmedia’s notable credits include Truong Minh Quy’s “Viet and Nam” (Cannes Un Certain Regard), “Directors Factory Philippines“ (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight), Kenneth Dagatan’s “In My Mother’s Skin” (Sundance Midnight Section) which sold to Amazon, “Nocebo“ (the first Ireland-UK-Philippines coproduction) by Lorcan Finnegan starring Eva Green and Mark Strong, ”That Thing Called Tadhana“ (one of the highest grossing independent films in Philippine’s box office history) and for Lav Diaz’s “A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery” (Berlinale Silver Bear Winner), “Season Of The Devil” (Berlinale Competition), the ARTE France supported five country coproduction: “When The Waves Are Gone” (Venice Out of Competition) and “Essential Truths of The Lake” (Locarno Competition).

Epicmedia places special focus on collaborations within the Southeast Asian region, co-producing Southeast Asian titles like Pham Ngoc Lan’s “Cu Li Never Cries“ (Berlinale Best First Feature Film winner) and Mouly Surya’s upcoming “This City Is A Battlefield”.

Epicmedia’s work in the narrative series realm includes show-running titles such as Astro Malaysia’s “Boo: A Philippine Horror Anthology”; Cignal Entertainment’s LGBT comedy, “My Delivery Gurl“ and the pandemic set anthology, ”Now Streaming”; detective-noir series, “The Tapes“ (iWant & Netflix) and two seasons of the hit Philippine web series, ”Single/Single”. Most recently, Epicmedia was also responsible for the Malaysian episode of HBO’s “Folklore 2: Ayizah, Ayizah“. Epicmedia has also provided titles to platforms such as Mubi and Taiwan’s GagaOOLala.

Our Team

Bradley Liew

Malaysia born, Manila-based, Bradley Liew is the CEO of Epicmedia Productions Inc. He’s an alumnus of the Asian Film Academy, where he was Awarded Lumos Award for Outstanding Performance from celebrated Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke; the NAFF Fantastic Film School, Berlinale Talents, Talents Tokyo, Locarno Filmmakers Academy, EAVE Ties That Bind and the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab. He’s the Group Leader for the Malaysian Development Lab for Fiction Feature Films (Mylab) and has also served as part of the jury at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.

As a Producer, he focuses on championing both seasoned and upcoming directors with distinct and uncompromising voices. He has produced a trio of Lav Diaz’s films, including the anti-musical 'Season Of The Devil' (Berlinale Competition), his 16mm film-noir 'When The Waves Are Gone' (Venice Out of Competition), and 'Essential Truths of the Lake' (Locarno Competition). Additionally, he has worked on the genre coproduction ‘Nocebo', starring Eva Green and Mark Strong, Kenneth Dagatan’s Sundance Midnight Section’s 'In My Mother’s Skin’, which was sold to Amazon, and Pham Ngoc Lan’s 'Cu Li Never Cries' (Berlinale Best First Feature). In 2024, his films ‘Viet and 'Nam' by Truong Minh Quy will compete in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, marking the first Vietnamese film in the Official Selection, as well as 'Directors Factory Philippines’ which will pre-open at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

As a Director/Producer, his debut feature, ‘Singing in Graveyards’ , made its world premiere in-competition at the Venice International Film Festival Critics’ Week. It went on to compete and screen in over 30 festivals and won best film in both Kolkata and Malaysia. His sophomore feature, the creature-horror ‘Motel Acacia’, made its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival (Asian Futures Competition) and was the closing film of the Jogja Netpac Film Festival. The film was sold to North America, Japan and multiple Southeast Asia.

Patti Lapus

Patti Lapus is the incumbent Chief Operating Officer and, since 2020, the Head of Production of Epicmedia Productions, Inc. She was a cum laude graduate of UP Film Institute, and has since attended University of Tübingen’s International and European Studies Program, NAFF Fantastic Film School, Locarno Match Me Program, the Full Circle Lab’s Fiction Lab and Creative Producer Lab.

She has worked on over 20 feature films and mini-series including Dodo Dayao’s Midnight in a Perfect World (Fantasia FF & Neuchâtel IFFF), Rae Red’s Tenement 66 (BIFAN), and Lorcan Finnegan's Nocebo. She also produced the travel shows Trippies and The Flip Trip directed by Pepe Diokno and written by Jessica Zafra, which both premiered on CNN Philippines.

Marienel Calma

Epicmedia’s Junior Producer and Executive Assistant, Pampanga-based Marienel began her journey into production in 2021. Since then, she has experienced her many firsts in the Film and Advertising industry as a Script Continuity Supervisor, a Post-Production Coordinator, and a Location Manager. She continuously develops her skills in the field of producing, in hopes that one day, she can provide significant contributions in Filipino filmmaking through seeking stories from young filmmakers living in the regions, indigenous communities, overseas, and in diaspora. Her most recent short, Ing Tianak, screened in the 15th International Silent Film Festival Manila (ISFFM) as part of the Film Development Council of the Philippines’ (FDCP’s) Mit Out Sound 2021—a government initiative to revive silent cinema in contemporary times.

Collaborators

Bianca Balbuena

Bianca is the Head of Studios & Managing Director of Anima Studios Philippines and the former CEO of Epicmedia Productions Inc. which has produced over 30 feature films, shorts and series most notably Venice Film Festival Lion of the Future Awardee Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno, Berlinale Silver Bear Awardee A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery by Lav Diaz, Cannes Film Festival Critics Week’s The Manila Lover by Johanna Pykko. She is the recipient of the Asian Film Commissions Network’s Producer of the Year, the youngest awardee of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) FIAPF Award for her outstanding contribution to cinema and the Film Development Council of the Philippines’ highest honour: the Camera Obscura Award. She was nominated for the Best Foreign Producer at the Madrid International Film Festival and served as jury of film festivals such as Sydney, Fribourg, Seashorts and Durban. She is the European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) Ambassador for Asia and has mentored at Locarno Open Doors, Talents Tokyo and Berlinale Talents Short Form Station.

Iana Bernardez

Iana entered the industry in 2017 as an associate producer before venturing into producing with Epicmedia. She has since produced the critically acclaimed Ma, Kenneth Dagatan’s debut horror feature, and Oda sa Wala, Dwein Baltazar’s third feature, which won Best Film at the 2018 QCinema International Film Festival. Iana was also the lead actress in Dwein Baltazar’s second feature, With All My Hypothalamus, recently featured at the Busan International Film Festival. She is also the producer of Rae Red’s Gawad Urian winning Babae At Baril and Eve Baswel’s Tia Madre.

April Batican

April has spent the past five years building her experience and learning the craft – starting with apprenticeships and working her way up to line producing films and producing international co-productions. She hopes to produce and develop thought provoking films that tell meaningful stories. She is an alumna of Rotterdam Lab, SEA Producers Network, Tribeca Film Institute (Luang Prabang Talent Lab), and Full Circle Lab. April has produced Kerwin Go’s black comedy, Mina-Anud (Cinemalaya Closing Film, Hawaii IFF), Bradley Liew's miniseries The Tapes (iWant & Netflix), and Carlo Enciso Catu's Cignal Play miniseries My Delivery Gurl. She is currently producing Carlo Enciso Catu’s Hold My Gaze (Full Circle Lab).

Annecy Bautista

A graduate of the University of the Philippines Film Institute, Annecy mixes a love for both experimental cinema and mainstream comedy. From her first foray into production in 2017, she has had narrative series projects under her belt including The Tapes for iWantTFC, My Delivery Gurl for Cignal Play and Folklore 2: Ayizah, Ayizah for HBO and the Philippine-Singapore-Taiwan coproduction film, In My Mother’s Skin (Sundance Midnight Section) by Kenneth Dagatan. She is also a DOLE-accredited Safety Officer.

Kenneth Dagatan

Kenneth is a Manila-based writer and director, originally from Cebu. In 2018, Kenneth’s made his debut feature Ma, a horror film about a young boy who sells his soul to a sinister entity in order to bring his dead mother back to life. Ma was a nationwide success when it launched as the first original film for ABS-CBN’s VOD streaming service: iWant. In 2023, Kenneth’s sophomore feature In My Mother’s Skin became the first co-production between the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan and the first genre film to be supported by the funding boards of the 3 countries. In My Mother’s Skin premiered at the Midnight Section of the Sundance Film Festival (the first Filipino film to screen in this section) to widespread critical acclaim. The film was acquired by Amazon Studios.

Rae Red

Rae is a screenwriter and director. Her writing credits include Birdshot, which was the Philippine entry to the 90th Academy Awards; Neomanila; and Eerie. Her debut directorial feature, Si Chedeng at Si Apple (co-directed with Fatrick Tabada) traveled to festivals such as Frameline and Udine Far East Film Festival. Her debut solo directorial feature, Babae at Baril (The Girl and The Gun) swept all major categories at the Philippines Gawad Urian (the Philippines equivalent of the Oscars). It was also the opening film of the New York Asian Film Festival and was sold to Netflix. Rae's 3rd feature, Tenement 66, was produced by iWant, the largest local streaming platform in the Philippines and competed at the 2021 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.

Benjamin Padero & Carlo Tabije

Benjamin Padero and Carlo Tabije are Filipino Production Designers with over 20 years of experience in feature films, tv commercials and tv series. They are known internationally for their work on Brilliante Mendoza’s Serbis (Cannes Main Competition) and Captive (Berlinale Main Competition). They were also nominated for Best Production Design at the 2016 Asian Film Awards in Macao. Their notable collaborations with Epicmedia include Pepe Diokno’s Above The Clouds and Kapatiran as well as Bradley Liew’s Singing In Graveyards and Motel Acacia.

Dodo Dayao

Dodo is the writer and director. His first feature, Violator, won four awards at the 2014 Cinema One Originals Festival, including Best Picture, and was part of the official selections of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Forum of Independents), Fantaspoa and Taipei Golden Horse (NETPAC) among others. His second feature Midnight in a Perfect World, premiering and competing in festivals such as Fantasia Film Festival (AQCC-Camera Lucida Special Mention Prize) and Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival. He lives in Quezon City and is currently working on his next film and his first book of essays and his first book of fiction.

What we do

Creative Production

As an artist-led company, we are trusted by filmmakers to be their creative partners. We protect and respect our directors' visions, as we guide their work from development to financing to production to distribution. 

Line Production

For productions looking to shoot in the Philippines, we serve every need, from locations to casting to grind to post. Our strength is our people. We put together the most capable, hard-working teams to meet even the most challenging expectations.

Branded Content

We develop, pitch, and produce branded content, bringing together independent creatives and the Philippines' top companies. Our strength is in storytelling, using narratives to tell branded stories with universal appeal.