Brillante enters new phase in career

Just like all artists from the beginning of time, the country’s most awarded film director remains excited over whatever changes occur in his career. As the title suggests, Brillante “Dante” Mendoza’s latest film Sapi or Possession is about possession and the ratings war between fictional television stations Sarimanok Broadcasting (SB) and the Philippine Broadcasting Channel (PBC). Direk Dante has already shown Sapi to festival audiences in Busan, Sitges, Rio, Toronto and others.

Lead stars Meryll Soriano and Dennis Trillo work for SBN, and Baron Geisler for rival PBC which is leading the competition. In an effort to win the war, Meryll and Dennis think of documenting an actual spiritual possession, but again Baron beats them to the draw by discovering how the character of Ruby Ruiz, a high school teacher, became a victim. To make things worse, Ruby was so good she actually believed being possessed to the point of feeling pain and being half-conscious. Ruby was Best Supporting Actress in Cinemalaya’s Ekstra, was part of Bourne Legacy and Thy Womb, and is semi-regular in Annaliza and Galema teleseryes.

This is when Meryll herself turns demonic, and buys outtakes of PBC material from a willing Baron in exchange for money. Does this actually happen, we ask ourselves? Do educated people turn criminal for the sake of success, fame and money? Direk Dante shared that at the Sitges International Festival in Spain, the Spanish media had admitted that this also happens in their desire to win the ratings game.

Much of the success of Sapi is due to Dante’s choice of cast. Dennis is known for his first film Aishite Imasu directed by Joel Lamangan, wherein he plays a transgender woman in a relationship with a Japanese army official. Meryll, on the other hand, has appeared in such films as Ploning, Kaya ni Mister Kaya ni Misis, and was International Excellence Awardee for Donor. Baron is as multi-awarded as he is controversial, with several awards including Best Actor in Cinemalaya in 2008.  On this note, we asked direk Dante if he had problems with Baron to which he replied, “Nauuna pa siya sa amin sa set, saying he doesn’t want to be a cause of delay. I think it is simply knowing how to deal with him.”

Dante just got back from Belarus, where he brought his films Thy Womb with Nora Aunor and Captive with Isabelle Huppert. He related how touched he was with the Soviets who congratulated him for his films with tears in their eyes. It was Brillante’s first time in the country, and it looks like it won’t be his last.

He was said to have originally planned on a story of demonic possession, but in the process stumbled on a case that became the basis of Sapi. As the story evolved, it ended in a critique of media practices where companies manipulate real happenings.

After Sapi, Dante also produced Unfriend pointing to Sandino Martin beside him as a new actor in a film directed by Jay Altarejos for Solar. Direk will produce two more films directed by others for Solar. He will also find time for projects with Sen. Grace Poe for her film tourism advocacy, Sen. Loren Legarda on her environment advocacy, and one for Gina Lopez and ABS-CBN Foundation.

We recalled direk Dante once telling us that he doesn’t see himself in mainstream, that he is more comfortable in stories that appear out of the blue. We recalled how Kinatay, which gave him his Cannes Best Director award, came about. A man called to see him saying he had the inside story for a good film. He called it the “chop-chop” story, which direk thought would be the lowdown on disassembling stolen vehicles until it could pass for new. But he was taking so long that direk prodded him to get to the end of the story. What he got floored him. The “chop-chop” story wasn’t about dismembering vehicles, but dismembering a person who had crossed her bosses and would be punished.

He is now working on a documentary series called Small Acts, Big Stories for the Solar News Channel on small acts of heroism that can inspire the world.

Obviously, direk Dante now has become more comfortable working with mainstream production companies, but he still calls the shots on everything. He still depends on his nose for uncovering a story, his preference for true-to-life situations and his working with a small crew. And he still lives in the same house and neighborhood, still loves plants and holds his parties in that amazingly beautiful garden he put together himself. And that, we think, is the secret behind his success.

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