Last Saturday, a restored version Mike de Leon’s Batch ’81 premiered at Trinoma Cinema 2, as the closing film of the QCinema International Film Festival.

Batch ‘81 originally came out in 1982, but bears themes that are uncannily resonant today: fraternity hazing and the rise of fascism. The restored film is also a reminder of the politically-charged nature of de Leon’s oeuvre, and why there’s plenty of reason to look forward to his next project: Citizen Jake, a film starring Atom Araullo as the titular Jake Herrera.

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We also know from the Citizen Jake Facebook page that de Leon considers it his response to the Philippines’ current political climate. "Another reason is perhaps the specter of the Marcoses returning to power spooked me,” said de Leon of why he’s making Citizen Jake, “and we had just elected a President who believed that the regime of Ferdinand Marcos was not bad at all."

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The same night, just before the Batch ‘81 screening, the audience got in on a new Citizen Jake teaser, which was later uploaded to Facebook:

It merely hints at the plot of Citizen Jake, which, as we know from the first trailer, involves a film being made months before the elections. It also gives us a lot of glimpses at the performances of its star-studded cast: Max Collins, Cherie Gil, Gabby Eigenmann, and Luis Alandy.

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But the standout moment of the teaser is Cherie Gil dropping that atomic bomb of a putangina. Gil is a famously brilliant antagonist (not to mention, a Woman We Love), with a long career of raising eyebrows and throwing shade as the kontrabida, so you would expect no less than the most scathing performance from her. But even then, her delivery was so emphatic that it’s hard not to sink into your seat a little:

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We can already tell that she's going to be one of the best things about the film.

No release date has yet been announced for Citizen Jake. For more information, visit the film’s official Facebook page.