Archive of films Violator / Violator

Philippines
2014, 101 min

Section: Forum of Independents - Competition
Year: 2015

A typhoon is slowly approaching Manila. And in the swelter that accompanies the storm something ominous is hiding which awakens suicidal tendencies and other inexplicable urges in the city’s inhabitants. This surprisingly self-assured and mature directorial debut is a sophisticated portrait of a society into which evil has come a-creeping.

Synopsis

A devastating typhoon is sweeping over the Philippines, slowly approaching Manila. As if they sensed the final judgment looming, some of the city’s inhabitants behave in ways that are hard to explain. The intriguing mosaic of stories gradually leads us to a police station where the night shift is forced to wait out the forces of nature while a new prisoner sitting in one of the cells appears to be connected to the mysterious powers concentrated in the storm. This focused first feature by a Filipino artist who has thus far only written about film offers a grimly-painted, symbolic treatment of a society that must suddenly come to grips with its innermost fears. In his unusually compact, esthetically provocative, and semantically ambiguous debut, the filmmaker creates an electrifying atmosphere that takes inspiration from the B horror movies of the eighties, the survival horror video game series Silent Hill, as well as the director’s own personal experience.

Hubert Poul

About the director

Dodo Dayao is a film intellectual and a multi-talented artist. Besides the online blog where he regularly posts his film reviews, he is also active as a script editor and comic strip author. He has significantly contributed to the publication of the pivotal book Philippine New Wave: This Is Not a Film Movement, which introduces the Philippines’ most prominent contemporary filmmakers. Dayao collaborated with one of the artists mentioned in the book, renowned experimenter John Torres, on the script for the short Lukas nino (2013). Up to now his own short films have by and large been screened at galleries. Violator (2014), his first feature, immediately positioned him among the region’s most talented moviemakers.

Contacts

Quiapost Productions
Unit 3D Valuepoint Executive Apartments, 1229, Makati City
Philippines
E-mail: [email protected]

Creative Programs Inc.
c/o Ronald Arguelles, 8th Floor, ELJ Building, ABS-CBN Communication Center, Mother Ignacia Street, 1103, Quezon City
Philippines
Tel: +63 241 522 72 loc. 3171
E-mail: [email protected]

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About the film

Color, DCP
European premiere

Section:	Forum of Independents - Competition

Director:	Dodo Dayao
Screenplay:	Dodo Dayao
Dir. of Photography:	Albert Banzon, Gym Lumbera
Music:	Marcushiro Nada and Ace Nada
Editor:	Lawrence S. Ang
Art Director:	Richard Somes, Erwin Sanchez
Producer:	Tonee Acejo, Lawrence S. Ang
Production:	Quiapost Productions, Creative Programs Inc.
Cast:	Joel Lamangan, Victor Neri, Timothy Mabalot, Rk Bagatsing, Anthony Falcon, Andy Bais
Contact:	Quiapost Productions, Creative Programs Inc.

Guests

Dodo Dayao

Tonee Acejo

Producer