Filipino director Brillante Mendoza is proving to be a pretty prolific filmmaker. Since 2005 he has 11 feature film and three short film directing credits to his name, and has also directed a segment in an anthology series and an episode of television for good measure. Although he’s yet to have one film truly break out, he’s been quite a hit on the festival circuit last year. “Thy Womb” was in competition for the Golden Lion at Venice while "Captive" with Isabelle Huppert premiered in Berlin. Now, after several arthouse successes, Mendoza is trying something a litltle different, with his next feature by taking on the horror genre.
The first teaser for said horror, “Sapi,” has debuted and it looks pretty interesting. As you can see from the teaser, the film will follow a journalist (Dennis Trillo) who’s reporting from a scene in which a large group of students appear to be possessed by evil spirits, and while filming he and his two companions begin to document various other paranormal activities. From what we can tell from the teaser this doesn’t look like it will be completely found footage, and that Mendoza’s shot it in a lo-fi, but still kind of arty and stylish way. We can definitely see the potential here for Mendoza to grab the attention of a much wider audience.
No word yet on where it will pop up, but Cannes is around the corner so perhaps Mendoza will return to the fest that awarded him (rather controversially) Best Director in 2009 for "Kinatay." Watch below. [Twitch]