MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Mikhail Red helms to win in his latest upcoming movie Friendly Fire, starring Coleen Garcia, Loisa Andalio, Yves Flores, Jan Bautista, Harvey Silverio and Bob Jbeili.
From Black Cap Pictures, Friendly Fire follows a team of underdogs in the highly competitive world of esports that is put to a test when their star player suddenly quits for the bigger gains. One fateful day, while playing the popular shooter game PROJECT: XANDATA – Hazel (Andalio), with the username “Kaya,” is randomly matched against Team ISLA, the Philippine national esports team. During the intense and widely viewed match, Hazel takes a lucky sniper shot killing half of the enemy team. That one spectacular move goes viral among the online gaming community, making her an instant gaming sensation. The next day Hazel is visited and recruited by Sonya Wilson (Garcia), visionary entrepreneur and founder of Team ISLA. Sonya, also a gamer, wishes to put Philippine e-sports on the global map and invites Hazel to live and train at the Team’s gaming house, with the promise of turning her into a professional e-sports athlete.
A skilled “Marksman” with innate talent and a strong instinct for gaming, Hazel would be destined for Esports stardom if not for being born into a humble background. Hazel dreams of only two things – to uplift her family from poverty and make it big in the esports community. With outdated hardware and limited gaming time, however, Hazel is far from being recognized by the online community – while her brother’s detainment only furthers her family into financial devastation. But the ever-determined Hazel merely perseveres, until a timely moment during her livestream alters her course and her family’s forever.
Team ISLA’s tech support, custodian and in-game coach. Kuya Ong (Jbeili), is a brotherly figure – also joins the team in some of their training sessions.
The stern, intensely serious team captain of Team Isla. With his commanding stature, Von (Yves Flores) expects nothing but the best from his teammates – often drilling them to exhaustion. Like Hazel – Yves’s passion for gaming is rooted in familial conflict. But in his case, Yves’s parents are more overbearing than ignorant, disappointed with Yves’s career choice in esports rather than the path to a medical degree they have set for him.
Ryan (played by Harvey Bautista) goes by many names – loverboy, chick magnet, heartthrob. But don’t let his looks deceive you, he is also a skilled player at Xandata. Playing a hulking “Juggernaut” class, Ryan can usually be seen at the frontlines whenever Team ISLA engages their opponents, prioritizing his teammate’s safety rather than his own.
Shifting gears from crime drama thrillers to delve into the fast-rising popularity of esports in the country, Red’s Friendly Fire is set to ablaze theater screens anew when it opens October 23 in Philippine cinemas nationwide.
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