Metro Manila is a 2013 British crime drama film directed by Sean Ellis and set in the Philippines with primarily Tagalog dialogue. Ellis also worked on the film as a co-producer and co-writer. The film was chosen as the British entry for the 86th Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film category, although it was not nominated.
Director Sean Ellis was inspired by his first trip to the Philippines, where he watched two armored truck drivers fighting. In 2011, the movie was shot on location in the Philippines with a Filipino cast and crew. Ellis pushed the players to interpret their lines in Filipino despite the screenplay being written in English. The footage was shot with a Canon EOS 5D DSLR camera by Ellis. Alfred Santos’ tale is based on the hijacking of Philippine Airlines Flight 812 on May 25, 2000.
On January 20, 2013, Metro Manila had its international premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It was also published on the 17th of July in France, the 28th of August in Belgium, the 29th of August in the Netherlands, and the 20th of September in the United Kingdom. It premiered in the Philippines on October 9, 2013.
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