Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast

After watching Thailand's Ong-Bak and Indonesia's The Raid, the producer, stunt coordinator and fight choreographer Sonny Sison had an epiphany. Where were the Filipino action films promoting their indigenous martial arts styles, like Ong-Bak did with Muay Thai, and The Raid with silat? Determined to do the same for his home country, Sonny left Hollywood and boarded the next plane to Manila, taking over 25 years' worth of industry experience with him to a country still developing as a global player in the movie market. Since relocating, he has been on a self-made mission to promote the Filipino martial arts through his fight choreography. In 2018, he worked with director Erik Matti on the non-stop fight fest, BuyBust, and this year sees the arrival of Maria, a Filipino action film directed by Pedring A. Lopez and starring Cristine Reyes, which is available now on Netflix.In this episode, we discuss his upbringing in the Philippines and Hawaii, where he first discovered his love of martial arts through the mov