Martial arts stars Maria Tran (Last King of the Cross, Tiger Cop, Tracer) and Takashi Hara (Ayotti) are back with Five By Five and Echo 8 Beyond, the prequel and sequel, respectively, to their 2024 action thriller Echo 8.
Read the full press release below:
Phoenix Eye Films has released the official trailer and posters for Five By Five and Echo 8 Beyond, the prequel and sequel completing the independently produced Echo 8 action trilogy.
Directed by husband-and-wife filmmaking team Maria Tran (Last King of the Cross, Tiger Cop, Tracer) and Takashi Hara (Ayotti), the two features were filmed back-to-back across Western Sydney for approximately USD $18,000 each.
The films were financed through crowdfunding, with additional support from sponsors and in-kind community contributions. More than 200 individual cast members, crew and collaborators participated in the production.
Principal photography took place over 50 shooting days and wrapped in March 2025, followed by an 18-month post-production process led by Tran and Hara.
“Five By Five” Poster
Five By Five and Echo 8 Beyond expand the world established in the original Echo 8, a female-led action thriller made for just USD $6,500. The first film has since exceeded one million views and appeared on more than 20 streaming platforms, building an international audience for the franchise.
“We consider ourselves hobbyist filmmakers because filmmaking isn’t our primary employment—we both work in other fields,” said Tran. “But we approach it with professional discipline and an enormous amount of passion.”
“We love fast-and-furious filmmaking: moving quickly, solving problems and finding ways to put every available dollar on the screen.”
Rather than waiting for conventional financing, Tran and Hara turned to their audience and filmmaking community to create the next two installments.
“These films exist because people chose to back them, sponsor them and contribute their time, skills and resources,” Tran said. “The cash budgets were small, but the collective commitment behind them was huge.”
“More than 200 people came together to help us make two feature films across 50 shooting days. That community is the real engine behind the trilogy.”
The production brought together established practitioners, emerging talent and first-time participants, providing hands-on experience across acting, production and screen action.
The trilogy reflects the growing possibilities of microbudget filmmaking as lower-cost production technology, crowdfunding, digital distribution and direct audience access reduce traditional barriers to creating and releasing feature films.
“Echo 8 Beyond” Poster
For Tran and Hara, microbudget cinema is not simply conventional filmmaking with less money. It is a production model built around speed, creative control, resourcefulness and community participation.
“Microbudget filmmaking is becoming its own legitimate mode of production,” Tran said. “It doesn’t need to imitate a studio film or apologize for what it is.”
“The opportunity is to remain agile, take creative risks and build directly with an audience. We weren’t waiting for permission or for the perfect financing package. We started with what we had and invited people to become part of it.”
Tran also believes that the human experience of production remains essential as emerging technology makes it increasingly possible for individuals to create films independently.
“Technology may eventually allow one person to create an entire film alone, but we still believe deeply in bringing a cast, crew and community together,” Tran said. “The finished film matters, but so do the skills, relationships and shared experiences created along the way.”
Echo 8 Beyond will make its world premiere at the US Martial Arts Film Festival in Arizona on October 17, 2026.
Both Five By Five and Echo 8 Beyond have been officially selected for the 2026 Urban Action Showcase, where they will screen in New York on November 14, 2026.
Following their US festival appearances, both films will return to Western Sydney for a special cinema double feature at Event Cinemas Liverpool on December 10, 2026.
The international rollout will take the community-made films from Arizona to New York before returning them to the place—and the people—that brought the trilogy to life.
Although Five By Five and Echo 8 Beyond complete the current trilogy, Tran is already developing a fourth installment titled One Black Night, set in Las Vegas.
The project will take the franchise into a new environment while adapting the community-powered production model established in Western Sydney for the Las Vegas filmmaking community.
“One Black Night will take the spirit of what we built in Western Sydney and explore what that model can become in Las Vegas,” Tran said. “The location and story may change, but the philosophy remains the same: start with the resources around us, bring people together and create something ambitious.”
Five By Five takes place before the events of Echo 8, exploring the covert world, divided loyalties and dangerous choices that set the original story in motion.
Echo 8 Beyond continues the story after Echo 8, introducing new alliances, escalating threats and further martial arts-driven action.
Together, Five By Five, Echo 8 and Echo 8 Beyond form a female-led action trilogy rooted in Western Sydney’s multicultural communities and built through grassroots collaboration.
Watch the Trailers below:
Phoenix Eye Films is an independent production company founded by Vietnamese-Australian actor, filmmaker and martial artist Maria Tran. The company develops culturally diverse, female-led genre stories through resourceful, community-powered production models.
