Cat&Docs Acquires Gay Filipino Homecoming Doc 'We Had a Plan'

Paris-based sales agent Cat&Docs has picked up international rights to "We Had a Plan," a documentary about a gay Filipino couple returning home after a decade as undocumented cleaners in the Netherlands, ahead of its world premiere at IDFA.

The film, directed by Suzanne Raes and co-directed by Venice De Castro Atienza, will screen in the Luminous strand of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, running Nov. 12–22. It also competes for IDFA's Best Dutch Film Award. Variety published an exclusive first look at the trailer.

What is the film about?

Paul and Daniel spent 10 years cleaning in the Netherlands without papers. They then moved back to the Philippines, where relatives now regard them as rich. The couple arrives with big plans for their new life. Money and optimism run out. As the savings from their years abroad dwindle, and the limits on their freedom as a gay couple tighten, the relationship comes under strain.

Raes framed the project in precise terms. "We shaped this film into a bittersweet love story about a couple whose relationship is tested by global inequalities in wealth, social security and acceptance of queer people," she said. "It reveals the sacrifices migrant workers make to achieve their goals, humanizing an often invisible workforce."

De Castro Atienza noted that Paul and Daniel, after 12 years away with no way to go back, had gambled everything on a better future for themselves and their family. "As a Filipino filmmaker who has also left my home country, I approach their story with closeness and intimacy, recognizing the collective experience of choosing between leaving to provide for loved ones and staying to share a life with them," she said. "In 'We Had a Plan,' we witness two people try to change the configuration of the world to build a place for their love."

Why did Cat&Docs buy it?

Catherine Le Clef, president and CEO of Cat&Docs, said the company responded straight away to the film's warmth and its likable protagonists. "Through their personal stories, the film offers a deeply human perspective on a foreign workforce that is too often reduced to statistics, stereotypes or simply made invisible," Le Clef said. "It is also an important reminder of the very real human cost behind the systems that depend on their labor. We felt that this combination of intimacy, tenderness and social relevance made the film particularly powerful and timely."

A sales acquisition is a promise of reach, not a guarantee of it; Cat&Docs has not yet announced any territorial deals beyond Dutch distribution. Cinema Delicatessen will handle the Netherlands release.

Who made it?

Raes' earlier films include "Close to Vermeer" (2023) and "Where Dragons Live" (2024), the latter earning her a BAFTA Scotland nomination. De Castro Atienza's first feature, "Last Days at Sea" (2021), debuted at the Berlinale and went on to screen at Visions du Réel, Hot Docs and IDFA.

Ilja Roomans produced for Dutch outfit Docmakers, with Alemberg Ang co-producing for the Philippines' Daluyong Studios. De Castro Atienza executive produced through Svemirko Film Productions.

The IDFA premiere on Nov. 12 will be the first test of whether a love story about invisible labor can convert festival heat into international sales.