Based in Manila, the Philippines, Dan Villegas started as an award-winning cinematographer before directing his first feature film, the coming-of-age Mayohan (Maytime) in 2010. In 2014, Dan co-produced with Bianca Balbuena That Thing Called Meant-to-Be, one of the country’s highest grossing independent films of all time. This began Dan’s love for producing, having helped create a film that shaped the modern romance genre in the Philippines.
In 2017, with fellow filmmaker and That Thing Called Tadhana director Antoinette Jadaone, he founded Project 8 Projects. which first produced Changing Partners and then followed that up with the blockbuster Never Not Love You, which not only garnered box office success, but also critical praise. Dan has since produced quite a few films like Lucid, The Hospice, Kitty K7, Mang Jose, Cuddle Weather, Alone/Together and Heaven’s Waiting.
He has also produced a few series, I Got You for TV5, The Seniors for Vivamax, The Kangs Show for WeTV, Drag Den for Amazon Prime, Suntok sa Buwan for TV 5 and the LGBTQA series Sleep with Me. He also co-produced 2023 Cinemalaya hits The Missing and Rookie.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
