Our team strives to paint an American society that parallels the Philippines which will shed a light on the thousands of Filipino citizens who were killed under President Rodrigo Duterte's discretion. We are very excited to visualize an unforgiving world that raises political and social commentary.

President Rodrigo Duterte was elected into office in June 2016 with the impression that big changes would be happening in the Philippines, specifically with the rampant drug epidemic. What came next was far from imaginable.  Death tolls in the thousands as suspected drug dealers and criminals were executed on the streets, in fields, or in their homes. Most of these executions were for the easily obtainable drug meth, or in slang, shabu.  What many didn't see coming was the increased violence in these high-profile districts involving police and vigilantes. It became so much more than containing the drug trade, it became a witch hunt. 

 

We wanted to approach this story in an unconventional but thought-provoking manner, thus our story was born. 

 

 

Shabu, embodies those core values that mimic daily life in the poorer districts of the Philippines where the violence occurrs most and having it take place in America. Our team wants to bring this entire world to life where the killings have become a normal part of daily life. A world that views drug dealers, or pushers, and criminals as expendable beings that ought to be taken out of society in the most extreme way possible. Citizens of this society have become desentized to the violence and learned to ignore the dead piling up on the street. Enter the main protagonist, Jen.

 

 

Jen is a photojournalist who documents the dead on a day-to-day basis for the news agency, The New Times, which uses those photos as propaganda. On top of that, "watch-lists" that reveal names and addresses of suspected drug dealers and criminals are published for easy access; which only further promotes the drug killings. Jen, who took the job for security, has been living comfortably with her younger brother, Rey, for quite some time. She is essentially part of the system. 

 

 

Throughout the course of the film, Jen starts to realize the corrupt nature of the people living in her surroundings and how easily manipulable the drug reform laws are. The film explores the privilege that many people have in today's world and upon realization of its sinister side, that control is easily deteriorated in a matter of seconds. 

 

Our team wants to respect the Filipino citizens who lost their lives by making sure that we make a film that conceptualizes the fear and hardships that they face in their daily lives. 

 

We hope that you feel as strongly attached to the subject as we are and by contributing to the project, we can make this politically and socially charged film to the big screen.