A24’s Cannes Breakout Club Kid Is Coming to the Philippines

• A24’s Club Kid, starring Jordan Firstman, follows a New York party promoter whose life takes an unexpected turn when the 10-year-old son he never knew he had arrives at his door.
• Manila-based independent agency Lunchbox has acquired the film’s Philippine theatrical distribution rights, marking its first solo venture into distribution after building a reputation for inventive film marketing.

The party’s over

A party promoter, a surprise son, and one overdue reality check. A24’s Cannes breakout Club Kid is heading to the Philippines, with indie marketing outfit Lunchbox making its first solo move into film distribution.

New York nightlife has a way of making tomorrow feel like someone else’s problem. In Club Kid, that arrangement works well for Peter, a thirtysomething party promoter who has spent the better part of a decade getting gloriously lost in the city’s after-dark scene.

Then a British woman turns up at his apartment with a 10-year-old boy and an inconvenient piece of information: Peter is his father. Suddenly, the afterparty is canceled, and someone needs to learn how to be a parent.

Coming to Philippine cinemas this November, A24’s Club Kid marks the feature directorial debut of Jordan Firstman, the actor and internet comedy sensation known for I Love LA. Jordan also stars as Peter, a professional partygoer whose maintained state of arrested development is interrupted by Arlo, played by newcomer Reggie Absolom.

With business partner Sophie (Cara Delevingne), his queer club-kid entourage, and a handsome social worker named Oscar (Diego Calva) in the picture, Peter must contend with the realities of raising a child and navigating Manhattan’s child-welfare bureaucracy.

The setup might suggest another tale of a wayward man being domesticated by fatherhood. Club Kid has a more interesting proposition. Set against the unvarnished energy of contemporary New York nightlife, it finds comedy in the collision between Peter’s hedonistic habits and the responsibilities he can no longer dodge.

A Cannes favorite with more than a hangover to show for it

The film made its debut at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section, where it reportedly received a six-minute standing ovation before attracting a bidding war. A subsequent screening at Telluride helped propel the buzz around the director’s debut, which brings together an ensemble featuring performers from New York’s queer nightlife scene.

Beneath the club lights and questionable life choices, there is a tender question: can someone who has spent years avoiding adulthood still show up when it matters?

Lunchbox is betting that family travels

For Lunchbox founder Carl Chavez, the appeal is straightforward. “Even if it’s a foreign film, it can still find a home here in the Philippines,” he says. “It’s about the importance of families in whichever form it may be, stories I think we Filipinos relate to in general.”

It’s a sensible bet on a subject that needs little translation. Family in the Philippines has never been confined neatly to a nuclear arrangement, and the people who show up for us don’t always arrive according to plan.

Peter’s situation may involve Manhattan social workers and a New York club scene, but the underlying dilemma is universal: what do you do when someone needs you to become a better version of yourself?

Lunchbox has made a name for itself by finding unconventional ways to market films that might otherwise struggle to find an audience. Its campaigns for Petersen Vargas’s Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, Filipiñana, Sunshine, and box-office hit The Loved One have helped establish the agency’s taste for independent cinema with a point of view.

Carl is candid about the financial stakes. For a small independent agency, acquiring a foreign film is a serious investment, not a casual punt. But he sees the risk as an opportunity to work out a distribution model that could eventually benefit Filipino films, too. If Lunchbox can persuade local audiences to take a chance on Club Kid, the lessons might extend well beyond this one release.

For a film about a man whose nightlife collapses the moment real life knocks on his door, the timing feels apt. Peter has spent years perfecting the art of being everywhere except where he is needed. Arlo gives him a reason to stay put. Whether he is ready for the job is another matter entirely.

Club Kid opens in Philippine cinemas this November.

Photos courtesy A24

Dayne Aduna

Associate Editor

Dayne Aduna is an Associate Editor at VMAN Southeast Asia, specializing in fashion, grooming, film, television, and contemporary pop culture. With a strong editorial focus on menswear, his work explores how style intersects with shifting cultural movements across Southeast Asia and beyond.

His expertise spans fashion journalism, celebrity profiling, grooming and skincare trends, fragrance, runway reporting, and cultural commentary, with a particular eye for emerging creatives and youth-driven style.

Dayne has written extensively on fashion houses, seasonal trends, designer collections, and the evolving image of the modern Southeast Asian man, bringing both editorial depth and cultural relevance to his coverage.

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