Next Attraction

Next Attraction is the second part (although they can certainly be seen separately) of what is intended to be a box-office trilogy: Raya Martin’s treatises on cinematography itself. The first part, Now Showing, is primarily about film as diary, and is made up of fake home movies. Next Attraction is a making-of, which poses the question of whether the film is really being made behind the scenes. Even though this short film can be seen towards the end, the product does not seem to be important. In the end it seems to be more about the process of film making than the making itself. Not the result is important, but the way you get there.

Coco Martin and Paolo Rivero are celebrated young actors in today’s Filipino film scene. They appear on the set to make a short film. In the story in the short film, a boy runs away from home after a quarrel with his mother. The film follows him through the centre of Manila. In a neglected area of the city, he meets a man and has his first sexual experience. When he gets back home, his mother tries to settle the quarrel. He ignores her and decides under the shower what he’ll do next. The third part of the trilogy is to be called Coming Soon. If director Martin continues to work in this tempo, then that will indeed be the case. —Gertjan Zuilhof, Viennale