Alpha: The Right to Kill

Carmel International Competition

Brillante Mendoza's seamily atmospheric drug-trade thriller covers familiar ground, but does so with a potent, purposeful stride.

Variety
  • Archive - Festival 35
  • Director: Brillante Mendoza
  • 2018
  • 94 minutes
  • Filipino, English
  • Subtitles in Hebrew

Set against the backdrop of the Philippines Government's crackdown on illegal drugs, a SWAT-led police force launches an operation to arrest Abel, one of the biggest drug lords in Manila. Police Officer Espino and Elijah, a small-time pusher turned informant, provide the intelligence for the operation, which quickly escalates.

Brillante Mendoza's stylishly executed thriller provides a memorable picture of a city in the grip of overwhelming fear and reaffirms his status as one of the most vital and important voices in contemporary Filipino cinema.

Filmography: Ma' Rosa (2016), Service (2008), Slingshot (2007), Foster Child (2007), The Masseur (2005).


  • Director Brillante Mendoza
  • Production Carlo Valenzona
  • Script Troy Espiritu
  • Cinematography Joshua A. Reyles
  • Editing Diego Marx Dobles
  • Music Diwa de Leon
  • Festivals San Sebastian (Special Jury Prize), Busan, Warsaw, Bucharest (Special Mention)
  • Actors Allen Dizon, Elijah Filamor, Baron Geisler
  • Source Memento Films, Paris

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