Mikhail Red

Mikhail Red (born December 11, 1991 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino filmmaker celebrated for his genre‑bending storytelling and sharp social commentary. The eldest son of Cannes Palme d’Or winner Raymond Red, he was introduced to cinema early; at fifteen he apprenticed under veteran director Marilou Diaz‑Abaya and shot his first short, The Threshold, which premiered at a German festival. Subsequent shorts such as Kamera, Harang—the Grand Prize winner at the Seoul International Youth Film Festival—and Hazard, which earned a Special Jury Prize at Cinemanila in 2010, cemented his reputation as a prodigious talent. Red’s debut feature, Rekorder (2013), made when he was just 21, explored film piracy and voyeurism in a 13‑day shoot and garnered the Best New Director award at the 2014 Vancouver International Film Festival. His breakthrough arrived with Birdshot (2016), a police procedural‑coming‑of‑age hybrid that won Best Film in the Asian Future section at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival, represented the Philippines at the 90th Academy Awards, and became the first Filipino title released worldwide on Netflix. The horror‑thriller Eerie (2019), a co‑production between Star Cinema and Singapore’s Aurora Media, showcased Red’s capacity to work with major studios and featured stars Charo Santos‑Concio and Bea Alonzo. In the same year he directed Dead Kids, the first Filipino Netflix original film, followed by the zombie‑action Block Z (2020) and the yet‑unreleased Western revenge picture Arisaka. Beyond cinema, Red has completed season 3 of the HBO series Halfworlds and is slated to direct the live‑action series Dreamwalker for Variety. Upcoming projects include the hostage drama The Grandstand, the sci‑fi thriller Quantum Suicide, a prequel Eerie Zero, a remake of Magic Temple, and a Black Dahlia‑inspired crime film, confirming his status as one of the Philippines’ most versatile and ambitious directors today.