Didier Costetpresents

A film by Brillante Mendoza

SYNOPSIS

Today Peping will happily marry the young mother of their newborn baby. For a poor police academy student, there is no question of turning down anopportunity to make money. Already accustomed to side profits from a smalltimedrug ring, Peping naively accepts a well-paid job offer from a corrupt friend.Peping soon falls into an intense voyage into darkness as he experiences the kidnapping and torture of a beautiful prostitute. Horrified and helplessduring the nightmarish all-night operation directed by a psychotic killer, Pepingis forced to search within if he is a killer himself...

CAST

COCO MARTIN (Peping)

Coco Martin is often referred to as the prince of indiemovies in the Philippines for his numerous roles in critically acclaimed independent films. KINATAY isMartin's fifth film with Brillante Mendoza after SERBIS(2008), TIRADOR/SLINGSHOT (2007), KALELDO/SUMMERHEAT (2006) and MASAHISTA/ THE MASSEUR (2005).Martin's other film credits include Raya Martin's NEXTATTRACTION, Francis Xavier Pasion's JAY and AdolfoAlix Jr.'s DAYBREAK and TAMBOLISTA.Martin has become a prominent celebrity due to his TVappearances in major dramatic series, such as "TayongDalawa" (The Two of Us), "Ligaw Na Bulaklak" and"Daisy Siete."Martin appeared in several TV commercials (BPI, Globe,Smart) before landing his debut film MASAHISTA/THE MASSEUR, which won him the Young Critics CircleBest Actor Award.

JULIO DIAZ (Vic)

Julio Diaz made his feature screen debut in SINNER ORSAINT (1984), using the screen name Rani Regaliza.He was launched as a major dramatic actor in TAKAWTUKSO (1987), in which he starred opposite Jaclyn Jose,

and HUBAD NA PANGARAP (1988). His other noteworthy films were ALIWAN PARADISE (1982),BAYANI (1992) and SAKAY (1993). He played in twoBrillante Mendoza films: SERBIS and KINATAY.

MARIA ISABEL LOPEZ (Madonna)

Maria Isabel Lopez is a Fine Arts graduate from theUniversity of the Philippines. She started her career asa fashion model. In 1982, she was crowned BinibiningPilipinas-Universe and she represented the Philippinesin the Miss Universe pageant in Lima, Peru. After herreign, she signed an exclusive contract with Viva Films.Her first film was SANA BUKAS PA ANG KAHAPON in1983 and she was also in the cast of the highly acclaimedWORKING GIRLS by Ishmael Bernal in 1984.

MERCEDES CABRAL (Cecille)

Mercedes Cabral has starred in Brillante Mendoza’sSERBIS and KINATAY. She also played a supporting rolein the film BALIW (2007) and later won the BestSupporting Actress award at the 2007 UP Inbox TV andRadio Festival for her performance in the digital filmBITIN. In addition to KINATAY, she also appears in asecond Cannes 2009 competition film: Korean directorPark Chan-wook’s THIRST. She is a student of Fine Artsfrom the University of the Philippines.

BRILLANTE MENDOZA(Director)

KINATAY is award-winning director BrillanteMendoza's seventh feature film. Mendoza madeFilipino cinema history in 2008 when SERBISbecame his country's first film in the Cannes FilmFestival official competition since 1984.

Mendoza's first feature film MASAHISTA (THE MASSEUR)won the Golden Leopard video award at the 2005Locarno Film Festival, as well as the InterfaithAward in Brisbane and the Audience Award in Turin.His subsequent films won further major internationalawards. MANORO (THE TEACHER) won theCinemAvvenire at the Torino Film Festival 2006 andBest Picture and Director awards at the Cinemanila2006. KALELDO (SUMMER HEAT) won the NetpacAward in Jeonju 2007 and the Best Actress Award inDurban 2007. FOSTER CHILD won the Best Actressaward in New Delhi 2007, Special Jury award inKazakhstan 2007 and the Signis Award in Las Palmas2008. TIRADOR (SLINGSHOT) won the Special Juryaward in Marrakech 2007 and the Caligari Award atBerlin 2008. It was also given the Best Film, Directorand Netpac awards at Singapore 2008.

Brillante Mendoza was born in San Fernando,Philippines. He studied fine arts and advertising atManila's University of Santo Tomas. He started hiscareer as a production designer in film, televisionand theatre. His production design was featured inacclaimed films such as TAKAW TUKSO (FLIRTINGWITH TEMPTATION, 1986), PRIVATE SHOW (1986)and OLONGAPO, THE GREAT AMERICAN DREAM(1987). Brillante also became one of the mostsought-after production designers for commercials.From 1990 to 2004, he designed for major companiessuch as Asia Brewery, Globe, Jollibee, McDonald’s,Procter & Gamble, PLDT, San Miguel Brewery, Smartand Unilever.

DIDIER COSTET(Executive Producer)

Didier Costet created the Paris-based SwiftProductions in 1992 with the goal of specializing inthe acquisition, production and distribution of qualityoriginal motion pictures. He released BrillanteMendoza's THE MASSEUR, SLINGSHOT and SERBIS inFrance through his distribution company Equation.KINATAY is the second Brillante Mendoza’s film thathe produced after SERBIS, which was the firstFilipino film selected in the Cannes official competitionsince 1984.

FILMOGRAPHY

2009 KINATAY2008 SERBIS (SERVICE)2007 TIRADOR (SLINGSHOT)2007 FOSTER CHILD2006 MANORO (THE TEACHER) 2006 KALELDO (SUMMER HEAT)2005 MASAHISTA (THE MASSEUR)

COMMENTS FROMBRILLANTE MENDOZA

KINATAYKinatay means "slaughter" in Filipino. The story was basedon actual events. While researching my film SLINGSHOT,I was interviewing smalltime crooks and I stumbled uponthe confession of a real-life criminology student who wentthrough a similar situation to the character of Peping inKINATAY. I was fascinated to hear the first-hand experienceof this young man. I thought that it would make an interes-ting subject for a film. I was attracted to the idea ofconfronting death in the most unexpected time and place.It's about realizing the complete randomness of death.

HORRORI wouldn't say that KINATAY is a horror film, but it doeshave some elements in common with that genre. I madethe crime happen unexpectedly and not at the very begin-ning, which is a common practice of the horror genre. I alsointroduce slowly the horrors which the woman goesthrough to evoke the emotion of fear. The formulaic intentionof a horror film is generally simply to scare the audience.My goal with this film was to take the audience to the nextlevel of fear - to fear not only what they recognize as danger,but also the dangers that they're not aware of.

HOW TRULY DANGEROUS THE WORLD CAN BEAny one of us could be like Peping. He is relatively innocentand unaware of how truly dangerous the world can be.What happens to him in KINATAY could happen to anyoneanywhere in the world. Even though he can be consideredan accomplice in the crime, he is also a victim. He is a wit-ness to his own death, in a way. The moment Peping entersthe van, he becomes part of that crime gang, whether heknows it or not. He will never be able to escape them. Evenif he could physically, he will never be able to, psychologically.He has already sold his soul to them.

BOTH VICTIM AND ACCOMPLICEThe prostitute Madonna represents the universal vulnera-bility of all human beings. The killers are brutally inhumanto her on various levels, proving just how monstrous theyare. However, I intentionally chose not to be too graphic.I wanted to concentrate more on how badly we can feel aswitnesses to such horrific actions. The feelings towards thevictim's situation in KINATAY are both Peping's feelings andour own. Like him, we the audience are trapped as bothvictim and accomplice. He would like to save her, but hecan't. We are witness to the existence of such horrors in theworld, but we are also in a trapped situation: What can wedo to stop this? As a filmmaker, I present this story as mypart in exposing the world's evils. But if we witness theseacts and do nothing about it, then we, too, are accomplices.

THE VALUE OF LIFEIn the beginning day portion of KINATAY, there is a scenewhere Peping walks past a crowd and TV news crew gatheredaround a suicidal man perched high up on a billboard. It'sironic that Peping is unaware that later that night he willbe questioning the value of life, something that the suicidalman has taken for granted. It's also ironic that just as thisman is part of the news headlines at that moment, Pepingwill replace him as the new dramatic news story the following day.

OUTSIDE TO INSIDEWhen we see Peping at the police academy, his instructorgives a lecture about the necessity to investigate from outsideto inside. Outside to inside. I tried to show the situationand how the lead character lives as an ordinary individual.I wanted to show his relationship not only with his familybut how he deals with his environment until his involvmentwith the criminals. It's during the night and on his missionwith the criminals when we see his innermost feelings andvision about himself and his future.

CONTRASTSI had very specific intentions not only for the narrative treat-ment of progressing from day to night in KINATAY, but alsofor the production design and cinematography. I wanted thebright and happy look of the daytime to contrast the dark

and suspense of the night scenes as the character approachesthe safe house of the criminals. The street noise during theday and the creepy sounds and music at night while the characters are traveling inside the van were of utmostimportance to build what the lead character is experiencingwithin himself. Like the character, the city of Manila is full ofmystery. It becomes a totally new character at night.

REAL TIME AND SUSPENSEDuring Peping's nightmarish mission, there are long stretcheswhere we experience his horror in real time. I believe thatreal time was the most effective choice for the suspensebecause it brings the audience closer to the actual expe-rience of the character. The more raw the treatment is, themore effective it becomes, because of the documentaryfeel. It was also important for me to put the character ofPeping in an unexpected situation. I deliberately keep theaudience and Peping in the dark about the crime to maintainthe suspense. By exposing the details little by little duringPeping's journey, we are able to live out more closely whatPeping is going through. I wanted my audience to feel likethey were riding in the van right there with him.

SHOOTING INSIDE THE VANI shot the day portion on 35mm and the night scenes on HD.I wanted more contrast between the two parts of the film.Logistically and technically, KINATAY has been my most difficult film to date. There are quite a few scenes that takeplace inside the criminals' van. The lighting crew had to stayon top of the moving van to bounce light on the actors'faces inside. The actual light source came from the lampposts and passing cars. Mics and lapels were all mountedinside the van while I cramped inside in the back of the vantogether with the cinematographer and the sound man.

TRUTH AND HONESTYOne thing in common between KINATAY and SERBIS, andwith all of my films, is the truth and honesty that I seek toportray in the presentation and stories. I learn a lot in everyfilm that I make, and I believe that I still have a lot to learn.One thing that I learned in making KINATAY is to always beprepared against all odds. A lot of times I find myself com-pletely alone in my vision as a filmmaker but such challengesnever stopped me from my goals.

MAIN CREW

Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brillante MENDOZAScreenplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Armando LAOCinematography . . . . . . . . . . . . . Odyssey FLORESArt Directors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harley ALCASID,

Deans HABALProduction Design . . . . . . . . . . . Dante MENDOZAOriginal Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teresa BARROZOEditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kats SERRAONCasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ed INSTRELLAExecutive Producer . . . . . . . . . . Didier COSTET

MAIN CAST

Coco MARTIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PepingJulio DIAZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VicMercedes CABRAL . . . . . . . . . CecilleMaria Isabel LOPEZ . . . . . . MadonnaJohn REGALA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SargeJhong HILARIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . Abyong

110 mn • 35 mm • 1:1.85 • Color • Dolby SR • In Tagalog 2009 • France / Philippines.

CONTACTS

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