Kenneth Dagatan
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Kenneth Dagatan is a Manila-based writer and director, originally from Cebu. Kenneth got his professional start when his short film, Sanctissima, premiered at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, a Philippine festival famed for launching generations of new filmmaking talent. Sanctissima caught the attention of the largest studio in the Philippines in ABS-CBN.
In 2018, ABS-CBN financed Kenneth's debut feature Ma, a horror film about a young boy who sells his soul to a sinister entity in order to bring his dead mother back to life. Ma was a nationwide success when it launched as the first original film for ABS-CBN's VOD streaming service: iWant. Besides receiving millions of views online, Ma was also critically acclaimed and went on to compete at the 2019 New York Asian Film Festival.
Kenneth's directing work also spans into the episodic realm with the episode As You Can See for the Now Streaming Mini-Series Anthology and is the co-writer of Rae Red's sophomore feature Tenement 66.
In 2023, Kenneth's sophomore feature In My Mother's Skin became the first coproduction between the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan and the first genre film to be supported by the funding boards of the 3 countries. In My Mother's Skin premiered at the Midnight Section of the Sundance Film Festival (the first Filipino film to screen in this section) to widespread critical acclaim. The film was acquired by Amazon Prime.
In 2018, ABS-CBN financed Kenneth's debut feature Ma, a horror film about a young boy who sells his soul to a sinister entity in order to bring his dead mother back to life. Ma was a nationwide success when it launched as the first original film for ABS-CBN's VOD streaming service: iWant. Besides receiving millions of views online, Ma was also critically acclaimed and went on to compete at the 2019 New York Asian Film Festival.
Kenneth's directing work also spans into the episodic realm with the episode As You Can See for the Now Streaming Mini-Series Anthology and is the co-writer of Rae Red's sophomore feature Tenement 66.
In 2023, Kenneth's sophomore feature In My Mother's Skin became the first coproduction between the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan and the first genre film to be supported by the funding boards of the 3 countries. In My Mother's Skin premiered at the Midnight Section of the Sundance Film Festival (the first Filipino film to screen in this section) to widespread critical acclaim. The film was acquired by Amazon Prime.
