SAPI: A Brillante Ma Mendoza Masterpiece

SAPI: A Brillante Ma Mendoza Masterpiece

One of the Philippine master and Festival veteran Brillante Mendoza (Thy Womb) sets his sights on the moral failings of the contemporary news media via his new masterpiece "Sapi".

In Sapi, Brillante Ma Mendoza embarks on a very different course with an alternately hilarious and terrifying plot, a caustic media satire and horror film about the lengths news services will go to capture and capitalize on a story.

The film features two competing television news teams as they chase a variety of leads, gradually zeroing in on an impending and possibly apocalyptic storm, and a middle-aged teacher who may or may not be possessed by a demon. 

In the movie, Philippine Broadcasting Channel (PBC) is eating up the TV audiences' major share, Sarimanok Broadcasting Network (SBN) needs a miracle to stay alive in the competition.  Writer and actress Raquel Villavicencio plays the ruthless head of the top-rated network, coming off as a Tagalog variation on Faye Dunaway's fabled character in Network.  In these mad and fearful times, her team finds that documenting an actual spiritual possession would be their only hope. 

Dennis Trillo plays the role of a struggling news correspondent who is also the new boy toy of the Sarimanok Broadcasting Network (SBN)  manager.

The station's efforts are halted when the entire newsroom is disrupted by the unexpected appearance of a very large snake. 

Tasked to head the documentary production is MERYLL FLORES,  played by Merryl Soriano, a trainee TV Executive producer, who desperately wants to proved herself to the network's bosses. The success of the project will also secure her eventual promotion in the company. However, the miracle seems to evade Meryll's team. They go to distant places, schools, provincial areas, religious groups, and faith healers, just to cover the case of mass possession, but to no avail. They simply cannot find a single incident of possession.

Desperate, she bought some footage from a shady cameraman of the rival network, Baron Valdez played by Baron Geisler,  who was able to capture the isolated case of demonic possession that involved a high school teacher (Ruby).

Sapi suddenly morphs into a terrifying and graphic horror film as well as a chilling study on how superstition, mass media, and mass hysteria can converge. The point where Meryll imagines to be the turning point of her new career, an exorcising reality dawns on her with a spiralling effect that mirrors the political system governing the TV network.

Sapi is a furious critique of the way media can shape public opinion and play, inevitably, to the lowest common denominator. Be forewarned, the movie moves from one disturbing image to the next, much of it sexual in nature. The result is a troubling, unforgettable assault on twenty-first century media and the culture that nurtures and allows it.

Director Biography

                                                              Brillante Ma Mendoza

Brillante Ma Mendoza was born in San Fernando, the Philippines. He studied advertising at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. His films include the following:

• The Masseur (05)
• Serbis(08)
• Sinapupunan (12)
• Summer Heat (06)
• Pantasya (07)
• Foster Child (07)
• Slingshot (07)
• Kinatay (09)
• Grandmother (09)
• Sapi (13)