Trailer for 'On The President's Orders' Doc About Philippines' Drug War

"Who's our target today?" The first festival promo trailer has debuted for a new documentary titled On The President's Orders, a compelling and incredible inside look at the ongoing, controversial drug war in the Philippines. On The President's Orders was just announced as one of the docs premiering in-competition at the prestigious CPH:DOX festival in Copenhagen next month. This is the first feature documentary film that investigates the slaughter of thousands of people in Manilla in 2017, led by the country's President Duterte, who launched a bloody campaign against drug dealers and addicts using executions as one of his key tactics. It seems to confirm, once again, that a government-run "war on drugs" is not as positive or as beneficial as it might seem. Looks like a terrifying, eye-opening film - bravo to the filmmakers for bravely telling this story.

Here's the first trailer for James Jones & Olivier Sarbil's doc On The President's Orders, from Vimeo:

The searing story of President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody campaign against drug dealers and addicts in the Philippines, told with unprecedented and intimate access to both sides of the war - a kill squad in the Manila police, and an ordinary family from the slum. Shot in the style of a thriller by award-winning cinematographer Olivier Sarbil, mostly at night, this observational film combines the look and feel of a narrative feature film (along the lines of 'City of God') with a real life revelatory journalistic investigation into a campaign of killings. The film uncovers a murky world where crime, drugs and politics meet in a deathly embrace - and reveal that although the police have been publicly ordered to stop extra-judicial killings, the executions continue. On The President's Orders is co-directed by filmmakers James Jones (director for "Frontline" and "Dispatches", making his feature directorial debut) & Olivier Sarbil (his first feature film). The doc will premiere at the CPH:DOX festival in March this year, before also playing at other film festivals. No other release date has been set yet. Stay tuned for more updates. How does it look so far?