Filipino feature film shot in Dubai hits streaming site
A film made about Filipino life in Dubai that was shot for Dh10,000 has hit the big screen and a streaming service.
The psychological chiller Lamentasyon was shown at the Reel cinema in Al Ghurair Centre, Deira, last month.
“The idea for the film came from my own life experience,” said director Chino Pereira, 38.
“I’m the breadwinner for my wife and daughter, and the pandemic really hit me.”
Mr Pereira has been in the UAE for 12 years, 10 of them spent working in marketing.
He established his own photography and video business for the events industry, before focusing full-time on filmmaking and TV commercials in 2019.
Lamentasyon, or Lamentation in English, was his first full-length feature film. It was produced, written, performed, directed, marketed and distributed by Filipinos in Dubai.
Filming took 10 months and hundreds of viewers paid Dh10, or 150 pesos, to watch at home on the streaming service KTX.
The proceeds will be donated to the Psychological Association of the Philippines.
Lamentasyon, a remake of a 2017 film, follows restaurant worker Samuel as he gets to grips with his new life in Dubai. Things turn dark when he starts hallucinating and his housemate Gerry suffers from depression, as he misses home and struggles to adapt.
Mr Pereira said his interpretation of the story was influenced by his own bout of depression.
“At the start of the outbreak, everything was shut down and I found it hard. I experienced depression and it made the film even more real for me,” he said.
Paul Cortes, the Philippine consul general in Dubai, whose wife appears in the film, said people from the Philippines talk about mental health casually, but not academically.
“The mentality is one of family, so we discuss thoughts and opinions with each other. Rarely do we find the need to ask a professional for help,” he said.
“This movie touches on the need that sometimes, a professional is necessary to combat depression.”