On July 11, Director Mikhail Red told why he gravitated toward genre films.
At the story conference of their upcoming movie Deleter, Red cited the popularity of drama and romance films for Filipinos while recalling how he leaned toward genre movies.
“Sa Philippines, ‘yung Culture natin, malakas talaga ‘yung mga Drama, Romance.
“Siguro as a film maker, nag-gravitate lang ko to genre films kasi marami naman ng magaling na filmmakers na masters na doon and continuously gumagawa naman sila nun, and ‘yun naman ‘yung normally nade-develop agad, nagre-green light, so parang may market na ‘yun so parang ako mas nahanap ko ‘yung niche ko.
“So far nagwo-work naman, very lucky na sustainable naman, nakakahanap kami ng mga avenue to distribute.”
He also talked about how he became a fan of genre films and their filmmaking process.
“Very sincere lang na ganon ‘yung cinema na gusto ko, fan ako ng mga ganong mga films, ‘yun ang mga influences ko, and exciting na rin ‘yung mga film na ang daming department, mayroon kang prostethic, mayroon kang stunt, may VFX, may sound effects, ‘yung mga layers na ‘yun parang mas exciting for me.
“Nae-enjoy ko ‘yung ganong process na maraming elements to it. Mas heavily nagre-rely siya sa visual language. Mas na-eenjoy ko ‘yun. As an introvert director ako, hindi ako ma-dialogue, ‘yung mga characters ko very ganon, laging ganon, laging internal ‘yung conflict.”
He also noted the international appeal of genre films compared to Pinoy films.
“Parang internationally rin may appeal ‘yung ganong mga movies, kasi sometimes siyempre, pag very local, very Filipino ‘yung story, may certain market lang siya.
“Pero may certain stories naman na easier nakakatawid, gusto ko rin ‘yung ganon, nakikita ko rin ‘yung international cinema, parang pag nasa festival ako, na-eenjoy ko rin sometimes, foreign films learning about filmmaking din and ‘yung industry nila, so exciting din ‘yun for me.”
He then clarified the importance of filmmakers and actors genuinely ‘geeking-out’ of their craft.
“Pero yun, depende naman ‘yun sa actors, sa filmmakers, sa writers, parang wala namang, better or preferred na Cinema, parang as long as nae-enjoy mo ‘yung process, nae-enjoy mo ‘yung ginagawa mo, and sincere ka–like genuinely naggi-geek out ka doon sa ginagawa mo, I think that’s what’s important.”
As for their upcoming movie, Deleter stars Nadine Lustre, Louise Delos Reyes, and McCoy De Leon, which tells a story of a content moderator who starts having unexplained occurrences after deleting a sensitive video.
As for Mikhail Red, the award-winning director worked on Arisaka, Block-Z, Rekorder, and Birdshot.
