On July 12, new Senior Vice President for GMA Pictures Nessa Valdellon admitted to having fears about producing films with the current state of Philippine cinema.
At the media event for ‘The Cheating Game,’ Valdellon acknowledged the challenges of churning out local films.
“Actually, nakakatakot talagang mag-produce ng films ngayon. This year, parang, nothing locally was doing well. And then you have Insidious, which did so well on day one.”
However, she asserted that they want to excite moviegoers, especially with their upcoming GMA Public Affairs film.
“Pero sa amin, parang ano siya eh, a movie should be an event, it should be something different.Â
“And dapat may mystery doon sa pag-ano–if you notice doon sa marketing namin, you can’t really tell what the movie is about, if you watch the trailer, if you watch the teaser, you have a feeling that something dark is going to happen–but you don’t know what the surprise is [about].”
She also remarked that despite their fears, GMA Network wants to entice Filipino moviegoers to return to cinemas.
“So we want to bring the audiences into the movie houses and find out and be surprised habang pinapanood nila sa big screen. So we’re hoping with that– that we can tell stories and in that way bring people back to the cinemas.”
She also pointed out how our South-East Asian neighbors’ cinema industries overcame the pandemic.
“If you look at our Asian counterparts, in Indonesia and Malaysia, people are going back to the theaters and supporting local content. So I’m hoping that we’re going to end up the same thing dito sa Philippines.”
The GMA Public Affairs film ‘The Cheating Game’Â stars Julie Anne San Jose, Rayver Cruz, Martin del Rosario, and Winwyn Marquez.Â
The cast also features Paolo Contis, Thea Tolentino, Yayo Aguila, Candy Pangilinan, Jose Sarasola, and Phi Palmos.
Directed by Rod Marmol and created by Shao Masula, ‘The Cheating Game’ opens in cinemas nationwide starting July 26.Â
