Mandala Productions enters the year positioned by experience rather than aspiration. For more than two decades, the company has operated as one of Asia’s most established production service providers and production partners, supporting international productions across formats, territories, and cultures. Based in the Philippines and working extensively throughout Southeast Asia, Mandala has built its reputation on operational reliability, cultural fluency, and an ability to translate global creative ambition into precise, on-the-ground execution.
Founded and led by producer Johanna Kirsten Lagman, Mandala has evolved alongside the industry it serves. Its guiding principle has remained constant: to make local stories global, and to make global stories relatable. That vision continues to shape the company’s work today, as Mandala strengthens its role not only as a production services provider and co-producer, but also as a developer of original intellectual property designed for international collaboration.
EXPERIENCE AS STRATEGY
Mandala’s credibility as a production partner is rooted in longevity. Over the years, the company has supported global television formats, factual and lifestyle series, and documentary projects for international broadcasters and platforms. Its teams have operated across complex environments, from urban centers to remote regions, delivering consistency in conditions where unpredictability is often the norm.
What distinguishes Mandala is not scale, but depth of practice. The company understands that successful international production requires more than technical execution. Language, pace, cultural context, and expectation all influence outcomes. Mandala’s teams operate with this awareness, allowing productions to move efficiently while remaining grounded in local realities. This approach has positioned Mandala as a trusted partner for long-term collaboration rather than a transactional service provider.
FROM PRODUCTION SERVICES TO CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
While Mandala remains firmly committed to its core operations as a production services provider, co-producer, and collaborator, it is also expanding its focus on original content development. This evolution is not a shift in direction, but a strategic extension informed by decades of field experience.
Each project in development reflects insights gained from working across cultures and formats. These stories are built for international audiences and developed with co-production, funding partnerships, and long-term sustainability in mind.
PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT
The Veil
A full-length psychological drama exploring grief, memory, and the fragile boundary between presence and absence. Character-driven and restrained, the film is envisioned for international festival circulation and arthouse audiences. Currently in development, it is open to co-production partnerships.
Detour
A feature narrative centered on choice and consequence, following intersecting paths that reveal the internal detours shaping human decisions. Grounded in realism, the project is in active development and open to collaboration.
Toujours
A feature film examining continuity, commitment, and the persistence of connection over time. Designed for international audiences, Toujours reflects Mandala’s interest in human relationships as enduring narrative drivers.
Empathy.exe
A short feature exploring emotional intelligence in an increasingly mediated world. Compact and contemporary, the project serves both as a standalone work and a proof of concept for expanded exploration.
Adobo Trails
A streaming series that approaches travel and food as cultural storytelling. Beyond cuisine, the series explores memory, identity, and place through personal narratives, positioning food as a gateway to understanding culture.
Journey to Love
A documentary series examining vulnerability and human connection across cultures. Observational in tone, the project explores how people experience love shaped by geography, tradition, and lived experience.
COLLABORATION WITH INTENT
Mandala’s development slate is designed from the outset for collaboration. These projects welcome partnerships with producers, brands, cultural institutions, and Film Tourism Commissions that understand the long-term value of story-led engagement.
Mandala approaches collaboration as alignment rather than promotion. Each project is built with awareness of sustainability, local impact, and realistic production support, ensuring that partnerships balance creative integrity with operational viability. Having worked closely with government agencies and regional stakeholders for decades, Mandala understands how stories can responsibly spotlight place, culture, and community while remaining globally resonant.
LEADERSHIP AND DIRECTION
Under Lagman’s leadership, Mandala continues to operate with a long-term view of the industry. Co-production is approached as a dialogue shaped by trust, clarity, and shared intent. Experience in budgeting, logistics, and international workflows ensures that creative ambition remains grounded in execution.
Mandala enters the year neither new nor static. It is a company shaped by experience, guided by curiosity, and open to partnerships that value substance over trend.
The company welcomes dialogue with producers, financiers, brands, Film Tourism Commissions, and institutions interested in building stories that cross borders with realism, integrity, and purpose.
Press Contact
Johanna Kirsten Lagman
Founder/Producer
Mandala Productions
www.teammandala.com
