MALLARI: The first Filipino film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures kicked off with a well attended Mediacon and Fancon last December 1, 2023 at the SM Mall of Asia. Mentorque Productions makes history through this film and Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2023 entry, MALLARI, being the first Filipino movie distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures. This is MMFF’s first entry to hold both Mediacon and Fancon in one event.
CELEBRITY NIGHT AT THE MEDIACON
Celebrities present during this event were John Bryan Diamante, the president of Mentorque Productions, the main cast–Piolo Pascual, Janella Salvador, JC Santos, Gloria Diaz, Ron Angeles, Tommy Alejandrino, and many more. They were all game and ready to answer questions from the media about this movie. What excited us more is the fact that Warner Bros. partnered with Mentorque Productions for this movie. Piolo Pascual portrays this unbelievable character like we’ve never seen him before in all his previous movies. “There’s a chance for cinema, not just Philippine cinema, so nakakakilig siyempre di ba? At the same time masarap sa pakiramdam. Ang sarap i-savor.” says the actor during the interview.
The film takes pride with its high-quality production and high caliber team, which earned the nod of Warner Bros. and promises to be the scariest movie this Christmas season during the MMFF 2023 run in cinemas nationwide. The development of its concept started in 2018 and had its green light by Mentorque in 2022.
WHO IS FR. JUAN SEVERINO MALLARI?
Fr. Juan Severino Mallari was a parish priest in the 1800s who killed 57 people before being caught, thereby becoming the first and only recorded Filipino serial killer ever, antedating Jack The Ripper by more than 60 years. At first, Piolo didn’t say yes to do this project right away. “When I got a phone call on a pitch for three characters, I didn’t know if it was real. It said, tatlong character, horror movie tapos Mallari ‘yung title. Serial killer siya, ‘yun lang sinabi sa akin. Sabi ko, ‘No’ I was doing a film back then and I still had a tour. So there was no way I could squeeze it in my busy schedule.”
Eventually, he searched, googled and learned about Fr. Juan Severino Mallari and realized that the serial killings happened for real in Pampanga in the 1800s. That awakened Piolo’s interest in doing this film.
It is written by Enrico Santos and directed by Derick Cabrido.
If you are an MMFF movie supporter, you know how Feng Shui made it real big in the horror blockbuster history.
“Sana nga kahit mapantayan man lang. But I would love to say na I hope the legendary Feng Shui, makahabol man lang kami. Dahil wala naman pong tatalo du’n. Iconic na iconic na ‘yun. Makalapit lang kami du’n, honored na honored na kami.” said Santos.
Joining Piolo in this psycho-thriller film are JC Santos, Janella Salvador, Elisse Joson and Gloria Diaz. With the special participation of Mylene Dizon.
Directed by Derick Cabrido, he shot the film in various historic locations in the Philippines, including a village built for the project to recreate an authentic setting. Also, it boasts of three timelines–combining the audiences’ love for retro horror with the immediate relatability of current terrors.
Recently, the Philippine-based leading production house that specializes in events management, marketing, advertising, and now focused on content creation has formally signed a partnership agreement with the American film production and distribution company on November 25.
For more information and updates, visit its Facebook page on facebook.com/mentorque and IG on @mentorqueproductions.