Tokyo-Set Neon-Noir ‘One More Night to Live’ Unites Philippine Production Powerhouses Fusee and Studio 360 (EXCLUSIVE)

Philippine production companies Fusee and Studio 360 have formed a strategic partnership, unveiling their first collaboration – “One More Night to Live” (“Kon’ya Daremo Shinanai”), a Tokyo-set action thriller.

The deal was revealed at the ongoing Hong Kong FilMart, where the producers are holding meetings with international distributors and co-production partners.

Lester Pimentel Ong, the founder of Studio 360, will helm the film alongside frequent collaborator Ace Wang Yan Bin. A 2027 release is being targeted.

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The story follows Yuta, an undocumented Filipino immigrant eking out an existence on the fringes of Japanese society. When his mother dies, he seeks to settle accounts with his estranged family and recover unpaid wages from his employer, Daido – only to learn that Daido leads a Yakuza operation that regards undocumented workers as expendable. Betrayed and with no recourse through legal channels, Yuta is plunged into a single harrowing night fighting through layers of organized crime to free his teenage sister from a trafficking network.

Underpinning the thriller’s genre mechanics is a pointed examination of status and belonging within Tokyo’s Filipino community. The film draws a sharp line between Japinos – largely undocumented offspring of Filipino migrant workers – and Hafu individuals who hold Japanese citizenship by blood or marriage. That fault line shapes Yuta’s psychology and drives his relationship with his sister Fukio, who occupies a very different position within the same divided community.

Kali, the indigenous Filipino martial art, is positioned as the film’s defining action grammar. The production intends to move away from the heightened choreography typical of genre filmmaking, instead foregrounding the practical, weapon-based and close-combat techniques that characterize the art form. The creative choice is framed as both a dramatic one – Kali as Yuta’s last thread to his cultural roots – and a statement about Filipino identity on the global action cinema stage.

“This is more than an action movie. It’s a journey through the system of modern slavery that exists in the shadows of the world’s cleanest cities,” said Wilfredo C. Manalang, founder of Fusee. “We are telling a story of the Filipino diaspora that is rarely seen, one of displacement and the fierce struggle to belong.”

Ong said the production aspires to balance visceral impact with emotional depth. “Our goal with ‘Kon’ya Daremo Shinanai’ is to deliver an exhilarating, emotionally charged experience. By combining Fusee’s grounded storytelling with our Action360 stunt philosophy and the visceral nature of Kali, we’re creating a film that hits as hard emotionally as it does physically.”

Manalang brings a track record that spans both festival-circuit prestige and genre fare. Fusee co-produced “Plan 75,” which earned a Caméra d’Or special mention at Cannes, and “Don’t Cry, Butterfly,” winner of the Grand Prize at Venice’s Critics’ Week. The company also backed “Topakk” – distributed internationally under the title “Triggered” – which bowed at Locarno before selling across global markets.

Studio 360 arrives with strong streaming credentials, having produced the Netflix series “Incognito” and the action-drama “The Delivery Rider,” which reached the number one trending spot on the platform. Ong himself competed at the highest levels of martial arts, claiming gold at the 1995 World Wushu Championships in Baltimore, Maryland.

Wang Yan Bin, who joins Ong in the director’s chair, is a Singapore-based action filmmaker who grew up in Henan and has trained in Shaolin Kung Fu since childhood. The two have built a working relationship across multiple productions, and the Fusee-Studio 360 alliance extends that dynamic into a broader Singaporean-Filipino creative framework.