Gene Cajayon

The Debut
DVD cover for the film
Directed by	Gene Cajayon
Produced by	Lisa Onodera
Written by	Gene Cajayon, John Manal Castro
Starring	Dante Basco Tirso Cruz III Eddie Garcia Gina Alajar Darion Basco Dion Basco Derek Basco Bernadette Balagtas Joy Bisco
Music by	Wendell Yuponce
Distributed by	Celestial Pictures LLC (2001) (USA) (theatrical), Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (video), Columbia TriStar (2003) (Brazil) (DVD), Columbia TriStar
Release date	2001
Running time	88 minutes
Language	English, Tagalog/Filipino
Budget	$1,000,000

The Debut is an independent feature-length film directed and co-written by first-time Filipino American filmmaker Gene Cajayon. It is the first Filipino American film to be released theatrically nationwide, starting in March 2001 in the San Francisco Bay area and ending in November 2002 in New York City. It is also one of the first feature films to take place within the Filipino American community, one of the largest Asian ethnic minorities in America.

Dante Basco (Biker Boyz, Hook) plays Ben Mercado, a talented high school senior who enrolls in a prestigious arts institute in order to realize his dreams of becoming an artist. However, his plans come into conflict with those of his strict immigrant father Roland (Tirso Cruz III), a postal worker intent on seeing Ben become a doctor. Their long-simmering feud—for Ben, a struggle to be accepted by America and therefore reject his Filipino heritage; and for Roland, a quest to give his children a better life than he had—threatens to boil over and ruin the elaborate eighteenth birthday party of Ben’s sister Rose (Bernadette Balagtas). However, it is at the party where everything starts to change for Ben. The celebration emerges as a cultural stew of old world traditions and contemporary urban lifestyle, challenging Ben’s sense of misplaced identity, his choice of friends, even the way he regards his father. He also finds an unexpected confidante (and perhaps a love interest) in Rose’s best friend Annabelle (Joy Bisco). However, the evening’s challenges to Ben are just beginning to surface. The arrival of the Mercado family’s overbearing patriarch (Eddie Garcia) exacerbates tensions between father and son, while the temptation to ditch the relatives to be with his friends at a kegger across town tugs at Ben throughout the evening. Worse, his budding romance with Annabelle is complicated by the presence of hot-headed Augusto (Darion Basco), a former boyhood friend-turned gangsta wannabe—and Annabelle’s ex. In one night, Ben will face the true nature of his relationships with his family, his friends, and himself.

The Debut is based on a ten-minute short film Cajayon had made as his thesis project at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, United States. He incorporated themes from co-writer John Manal Castro's short film, Diary of a Gangsta Sucka. The full-length film took eight years to produce and raise funding for (from 1992 to 2000), and another year to be released in theaters, and two years to go on DVD in 2003 and television. In 2012, it was made available on iTunes, Amazon Video, and VUDU.