PacRimSilent Allies
Concept art · not final key art

A PacRim Media · Camera Obscura Production

Silent
Allies

Written & Directed by Frank Kostenko

Some allies fight beside you.Some stay silent.

When a Peace Corps water volunteer traces the poisoning of a Philippine highland valley to a US and Chinese mine, his only ally is the Green Beret he can't stand, and the Green Beret's best friend, a grieving Filipino commando, has just been turned into the cover-up's assassin.

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PacRim Camera Obscura
Area of operations
Kalinaw Valley, Cordillera highlands, Luzon
Threat
Cyanide in the water
Source
A gold mine's discharge pipe
Assets
A Green Beret (1st Special Forces Group), Musang commandos, a Peace Corps volunteer
Status
Screenplay complete

The Film

Two faces of America abroad.
One cover-up.

A military action thriller. Tears of the Sun meets Sicario, set in the Philippines today.

A Peace Corps kid and a Green Beret, two faces of America abroad, fight the same cover-up from opposite ends. Grounded, sweat-and-mud military action with a political conspiracy underneath. Fast and physical, with real wit between the two leads.

Written & Directed by
Frank Kostenko
Producers
Frank Kostenko · Pierre Morel · Jake Katofsky
Setting
The Kalinaw Valley, Cordillera highlands, Luzon
Location
To be filmed on location in the Philippines with a Philippine Local Production Services Company
Status
Screenplay complete
Rice terraces of the Cordillera highlands, Luzon
The Cordillera highlands, Luzon. Photo: Glenda Wee / Unsplash

Before the Storm

Clean Water Wins Allies

Up in the Kalinaw Valley, Peace Corps water biologist Brad Townsend builds "cloud sails," fog nets that pull drinking water out of the mountain air. The village well runs clean. The kids come running.

Fog-catching sails on a ridge above rice terraces at sunrise, with a volunteer and village kids (concept art)
Cloud SailsThe volunteer's sail-driven clean-water system.
Concept art
Villagers and children filling buckets at a clean highland well (concept art)
The Village WellClean water first. Then we talk.
Concept art

Peace Corps water project · Kalinaw Valley

  • Cloud sails pull drinking water out of the mountain air.
  • The village well runs clean.
  • Then the fish float belly-up.

Act One · Poison in the Water

The Story

01

Drop In

Three Hueys skim the Cordillera ridgelines at treetop height. Green Beret adviser Tom Allen rides the open door beside his friend Lt. Fernando Gomez and Gomez's Musang commandos.

02

Wave the Peace Sign

Downriver, Peace Corps water biologist Brad Townsend builds "cloud sails," fog nets that pull drinking water out of the mountain air. Then the fish float belly-up.

03

Breathe for Her

Nine-year-old Nila drinks from the village well and stops breathing. Brad and Anna Castle, a USDA vet, bring her back. The test strip turns. It's cyanide.

04

Follow the Water

Brad slips into the black river at night and finds the gold mine's discharge pipe pumping poison. The Embassy wants silence. A guerrilla war is the perfect cover.

Peace has to be fought for.
Silence has a cost.

Personnel · Case File SA-01

Two Faces of America Abroad

Eyes only

Dossier 01 · U.S. Army

Tom Allen

Role
Green Beret adviser
Unit
1st Special Forces Group (Airborne)
Command
Special Operations Command Pacific (SOCPAC), under U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)
With
Lt. Fernando Gomez and his Musang commandos
Restricted

Dossier 02 · U.S. Embassy

Brad Townsend

Role
Peace Corps water biologist
Under
The U.S. Embassy (State Department)
Project
"Cloud sails," fog nets that pull drinking water out of the mountain air
Finds
The gold mine's discharge pipe, pumping poison
Classified

Dossier 03 · Philippines

Fernando Gomez

Rank
Lieutenant
Unit
Musang commandos
Tie
Tom Allen's friend
Status
 

Field Notes · Kalinaw Valley

Allies in the Field

Anna Castle is the valley's only vet. For the USDA, she is the boots on the ground in a screwworm containment program, cataloguing infestations in areas few will enter.

A young American veterinarian examines a carabao while smiling highland farmers and a boy look on, rice terraces behind (concept art)
The Valley's Only VetAnna Castle, USDA field vet, with the farmers and their carabao.
Concept art

USDA bio-containment · Cordillera corridor

  • Sterile flies, dropped from the air.
  • One vet on the ground.
  • Without her field data, the barrier fails.
A small plane releases boxes of sterile flies over rice terraces at sunrise while farmers watch (concept art)
Sterile Fly DropBoxes of sterile flies released from the air to collapse the wild screwworm population.
Concept art
Concept art

Evidence · exhibit A

Old clay pots.
A brand-new canister.

Ancient ruins. Native clay pots, centuries old. And sitting beside them, a brand-new chemical canister that doesn't belong. Cyanide is in the water, and someone put it there.

Follow the water
AO KALINAW · CORDILLERA CENTRAL · LUZON ILLUSTRATIVE · NOT TO SCALE GRID REF ▲N RIVER T1 LZ T2 WELL T3 PIPE T4 MINE Illustrative map · fictional valley

Area of Operations

Follow the Water

Mission map · case file SA-01

  • T1
    Drop InThree Hueys skim the ridgelines at treetop height.
  • T2
    The Village WellNine-year-old Nila drinks and stops breathing. It's cyanide.
  • T3
    The Discharge PipeBrad slips into the black river at night and finds it pumping poison.
  • T4
    The MineA US and Chinese gold mine. The Embassy wants silence.
Commandos moving through the jungle at night under night vision (concept art)
Asset · night opsMusang Commandos
Concept art
Floodlit gold mine compound in a jungle valley at night (concept art)
Target · T4The Mine
Concept art
Night dive at the poison discharge pipe, dead fish in the river (concept art)
Target · T3The Night Dive
Concept art
Concept art

The Action

A heliborne raid, a river extraction under fire, a night dive at a poison pipe, a HALO jump, a market-square shootout on a ticking clock.

SnatchDiveRunCarryBreachTrapCrash

Intel log · SOCPAC J2 // SITREP feed · fictional

Operations Log

Case file SA-01 · AO CordilleraDTG (Zulu)
  • 140547ZSOCPAC J2RoutineThree Hueys inbound, Cordillera ridgelines, treetop height. Green Beret adviser T. ALLEN aboard with Lt. F. GOMEZ and Musang commandos.
  • 150912ZEmbassy Manila // Peace CorpsPriorityVolunteer B. TOWNSEND reports fish floating belly-up downriver of the cloud-sail project.
  • 161430ZFlashFlashWater source contaminated. Village well, Kalinaw Valley. Child (9) stopped breathing, revived. Test strip: CYANIDE.
  • 170212ZODA · 1st SFG (A)ImmediateVolunteer located gold mine discharge pipe in black river, pumping poison. Mine: US and Chinese.
  • 170800ZEmbassy ManilaRestrictedGuidance: maintain silence.
  • 171615ZSOCPAC J2AssessmentGuerrilla war provides cover for the operation.
  • 172350ZFlashFlashAsset compromised. Identity:  
  • 180300ZODA · 1st SFG (A)ImmediateMoving on T4 MINE. Status:  

Fictional story log · unit names are text references only

Green Beret team moving through misty highland jungle at dawn (concept art)
ODA · 1st SFG (A)Dawn Infil
Concept art
Commandos breaching the mine compound fence at night in the rain (concept art)
Target · T4Night Raid
Concept art
Concept image · placeholder

Clean water first.
Then we talk.

A story where clean water wins more allies than firepower.
Frank Kostenko · Writer & Director
“Saved by the Peace Corps.” “Hell of a thing, peace.”
Tom Allen · from the screenplay

World-Class Filmmakers

Behind the Camera

A special operations veteran who has run sets for Edward Zwick and Tony Scott, the director of Taken, and a producer who closes the money and delivers the picture.

Frank Kostenko

U.S. Navy Reserve · 30 years · SEAL Team 17
Photo: IMDb primary photo, used with permission

Personnel file 01 // Clearance: writer · director · producer

Frank
Kostenko

Writer · Director · Producer

$585.5MWorldwide box office of his two biggest AD credits

A Directors Guild of America producer and retired U.S. Navy Captain with 70+ film credits, rising from production assistant and set medic to assistant director, unit production manager, line producer and executive producer.

The Last Samurai2003Assistant DirectorWarner Bros.Worldwide$454.6M
Man on Fire2004Assistant Director20th Century FoxWorldwide$130.8M
Angel and the Badman2026Executive ProducerAngel StudiosWorldwideIn theaters

30 years, U.S. Navy Reserve. Commanded SEAL Team 17. Chief of Staff, Special Operations Command Pacific. Combat veteran of Afghanistan.

IMDb ↗

Pierre Morel at the Paris premiere of Taken, 2008

Photo: Thierry Caro / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped · Taken premiere, Paris, 2008

Personnel file 02 // Producer

Pierre
Morel

Producer

$379.8MWorldwide box office across six features he directed

The French director who made Taken a global franchise. He began as a cinematographer on The Transporter and Unleashed.

Taken2008Director20th Century FoxWorldwide$226.8M
Peppermint2018DirectorSTXfilmsWorldwide$53.9M
From Paris with Love2010DirectorLionsgateWorldwide$52.8M
The Gunman2015DirectorOpen RoadWorldwide$24.2M
District B132004DirectorMagnolia (US)Worldwide$11.2M
Freelance2023DirectorRelativityWorldwide$10.9M

Also directed Canary Black (2024).

IMDb ↗

Jake Katofsky

USC Peter Stark Producing Program
Photo: Endurance Media

Personnel file 03 // Producer

Jake
Katofsky

Producer · President, Endurance Media

Script → ScreenDevelopment, financing, production, post and delivery

President of Endurance Media since February 2025, overseeing development, financing, production, post and delivery across its feature slate. A graduate of the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.

Freelance2023Co-ProducerRelativityWorldwide$10.9M
The Killer's Game2024Co-ProducerLionsgateWorldwide$5.9M
Sender Producer · Line Producer · Post ProducerIndependentWorldwiden/a
The Incredible Heist of Hallelujah Jones Exec. Producer · UPMWaititi Productions · WondalandStatusUpcoming

Other independent credits include Cut! (LA Film Festival Best Picture), Live Cargo (Tribeca) and 108 Stitches. Earlier, he worked in development and executive support at MGM and Orion on The Addams Family, Operation Finale and No Time to Die.

IMDb ↗

Comparables

Audiences Show Up
for This Genre

2003 · Revolution Studios

Tears of the Sun

Worldwide Box Office

$86.5M

2012 · Relativity Media

Act of Valor

Worldwide Box Office

$82.5M

2015 · Lionsgate

Sicario

Worldwide Box Office

$85.0M

2006 · Warner Bros.

Blood Diamond

Worldwide Box Office

$171.7M

Worldwide gross, all releases. Source: Box Office Mojo.

JFK founded both the Peace Corps and the Special Forces. This film puts the two side by side.
Why Now

The Headlines

  • Water cannons at Second Thomas Shoal.
  • New US base access in the Philippines.
  • A US and China fight over rare earths.
  • The film puts all three on one river.
Action BuyersWorldwide
US Militaryand the veteran audience
Filipino DiasporaWorldwide
Southeast AsiaThe region
A stately white embassy building on the Manila Bay waterfront at sunset, the American flag flying high in the foreground (concept art) Concept art

U.S. Embassy · Manila

That's the thing about peace.
Somebody always has to fight for it.
Brad Townsend · from the screenplay

Investors · Contact

Join Us Early

Silent Allies leads the PacRim slate. The script is written. The Philippine shoot is planned with a local production services company. The international sales path is in place.

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Frank Kostenko · Producer

frank@pacrimlabs.com

+1 818-262-9440

Pacific Rim Labs LLC (US) · PacRim Media Ltd. (Canada) · Camera Obscura

pacrimlabs.com · pacrimltd.ca

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