Hollywood Looks East: Carolina Brasil and Jared Cohn Build a Film Production Base in the Philippines

The producers are developing local crews, international projects and a production pipeline they hope can eventually support as many as one film a month.

Carolina Brasil and Jared Cohn are betting that the Philippines can become more than another overseas shooting location.

The two producers are developing a long-term film production operation in the country, built around Filipino crews, international casts and a steady pipeline of commercially oriented genre films. Their eventual goal is ambitious: establish an infrastructure capable of producing as many as one movie a month.

The idea is already being tested.

Brasil and Cohn recently completed a suspense feature in the Philippines using a Filipino crew, with award-winning local filmmaker Christian Paolo directing. The production features an international cast including Juliana DeStefano, Fernanda Arraes, Dwayne Hilton and Bjorn Lundavist.

The still-untitled thriller follows an American couple whose island vacation begins to unravel after they meet two strangers at their resort. The idyllic setting quickly becomes something less comfortable as the couple realizes the people around them may not be who they first appeared to be.

For Brasil and Cohn, though, the larger story happened behind the camera.

The film became a practical test of whether they could assemble a local production team capable of working on an internationally marketed independent feature, then keep that infrastructure in place for the next one.

That second project is already being assembled for production around late October and early November.

The strategy reflects a basic reality of independent filmmaking. Locations are relatively easy to find. Reliable crews are not.

A production company that can repeatedly work with the same cinematographers, assistant directors, production managers, grips, electricians, makeup artists and technical personnel gains something increasingly valuable in an industry where budgets remain tight: speed.

Cohn has spent much of his career working inside that kind of production model. IMDb lists dozens of directing and producing credits across action, thriller, horror and independent film. His experience includes projects released through major studios, distributors and streaming platforms.

His book, 50 Movies Made: Lessons Learned on a Filmmaker’s Journey, is essentially a practical examination of that process, covering everything from development and pre-production to shooting, post-production and distribution.

Brasil brings a complementary background in international production. Through companies including Krystal Films and Stone Horus, she has worked across American and overseas film projects, with credits on genre films that have reached distributors and platforms including Lionsgate, Paramount, Tubi and others.

The two producers had already worked together before turning their attention to the Philippines.

Cohn directed The Getback, on which Brasil served as a producer, and they were also involved with Love by Design. After reconnecting at Cannes this year, the two began discussing a more systematic partnership.

The Philippines became the focus.

Rather than bring in a largely foreign production unit, Brasil and Cohn want Filipino crews to become the foundation of the operation. International actors, directors and producers could move between projects while an increasingly experienced local team remains in place.

That is what makes the initiative more interesting than a conventional overseas production deal.

The Philippine government has also been working to attract international filmmaking through programs administered by the Film Development Council of the Philippines, including incentives tied to qualifying local production expenditures and international co-productions.

But incentives alone do not create a film industry.

Crews do.

Brasil and Cohn are effectively trying to build a repeatable production system, one project at a time. Their first Philippines film is the proof of concept. The next production will test whether that model can become a pipeline.

Brasil is also evaluating several larger projects for production during the second half of 2027, while the partnership continues developing additional films intended for the Philippine operation.

Whether the producers ultimately reach the pace of one movie every month remains to be seen. Film schedules rarely respect ambition.

Still, that target reveals what Brasil and Cohn are actually trying to build.

They are not simply going to the Philippines to make a movie.

They are creating a film trend.