#CulturePH - Coming Home to the Table: Netflix's GANITO, GANYAN, GANOON Launches with Jodi Sta. Maria and Agot Isidro
There's something about a family reunion that never quite plays out the way you imagine it — and that tension was on full display at the media launch of Netflix Philippines' GANITO, GANYAN, GANOON, held at Casa Buenas in Newport Mall. The afternoon brought together leads Jodi Sta. Maria and Agot Isidro, along with director and screenwriter Cholo H. Laurel, for a sit-down that felt less like a press event and more like eavesdropping on a family finally saying the things they'd been avoiding.
Isidro plays Paz, a mother returning after years of absence, walking straight back into wounds she left behind. She described her character as the one who reopens old family pain simply by coming home. Sta. Maria, meanwhile, plays Jo — a fiercely independent writer whose carefully built life gets upended the moment Paz reappears, forcing her to figure out how to live alongside a woman she calls "ina" in name only.
For Laurel, the film marks a return to directing after a decade away, and he credited Netflix for finally giving him the resources and structure he'd been waiting for since 2018. The production shot largely in Marinduque, with much of it filmed at Laurel's own home, Balai La-hi — a detail that adds a layer of intimacy to a story already steeped in real family dynamics.
Despite the heavy themes, Laurel was clear that comedy had to thread through the drama for it to land — arguing that humor is what actually makes drama work. That balance of pain and levity, he suggested, is what makes the film feel unmistakably Filipino.
At its core, GANITO, GANYAN, GANOON is a film about forgiveness without guarantees — closure that may or may not arrive. Laurel was firm that the film doesn't tell audiences how to feel about the family it portrays; it simply lays their relationships bare and lets viewers decide for themselves. Isidro echoed this with her own reflection on turning sixty and realizing that real peace only comes from doing the inner work yourself, not from waiting on someone else's apology.
The launch also gave media an early look at one of the film's key dining table scenes — chaotic, loaded, and clearly central to how this family finally confronts each other.
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Rounding out the cast, Gabriel Lazaro plays Matti, a young man piecing together his identity while reconnecting with a side of the family he barely knows. Ruby Ruiz plays Des, the family's longtime helper who has quietly witnessed every fracture and imperfection over the years, filling in as a kind of surrogate mother in Paz's absence.
For Sta. Maria, joining Netflix's growing slate of local titles means something bigger than one film — it's a chance for audiences everywhere to get a real glimpse of Filipino culture and talent on a global stage.
Over 70 media professionals, guests, and content creators packed the launch, a day ahead of the film's official streaming debut. If the afternoon was any indication, GANITO, GANYAN, GANOON isn't interested in tidy resolutions — it's interested in the mess, the memory, and the very Filipino act of sitting back down at the table anyway.
GANITO, GANYAN, GANOON is now streaming worldwide, only on Netflix.
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