The Debut (2000 film)

The Debut
The Debut
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gene Cajayon
Written by	Gene Cajayon; John Manal Castro
Produced by	Lisa Onodera
Starring	Dante Basco; Tirso Cruz III; Eddie Garcia; Gina Alajar;
Cinematography	Hisham Abed
Edited by	Kenn Kashima
Music by	Wendell Yuponce
Production; companies	5 Card Productions; Celestial Pictures; Center for Asian American Media; GMA Films; National Asian American Telecommunications Association; Visual Communications;
Distributed by	Destination Films (United States); Columbia Pictures (Philippines)
Release dates	May 18, 2000 (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival); March 16, 2001 (United States);
Running time	88 minutes
Countries	United States; Philippines
Languages	English; Filipino
Budget	$1 million
Box office	$1,745,778

The Debut is a 2000 coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed and co-written by Gene Cajayon in his directorial debut. Incorporated themes of Philippine culture, struggling with heritage identity and racism, the title of the film refers to the traditional coming-of-age ceremony accompanying a young woman’s 18th birthday.

A co-production of United States and Philippines, The Debut is the first film for an independent Hollywood film production (also known as Indiewood) to be written or directed by a Filipino-American and to take place or depicted within the Filipino-American community, and the first film to be produced with a Filipino film production GMA Films.

The film grossed $1.745 million in limited theatrical release in the United States.