2019 | 1h 38min | Directed by Arden Rod Condez
Synopsis
A 14-year-old farmboy’s life is suddenly upended when a video of him brutally attacking a classmate went viral.
Availability Window
7pm, Oct 2 – 7pm, Oct 16
How to Watch
Click on the following link to access the film’s Eventive page: John Denver Trending. On this page, click on “Buy” or “Pre-order” (don’t worry, you will be able to screen film free of charge) and you will be prompted to enter an unlock code, which is (case sensitive):
siglo*de*epifania137a*z
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Please note that once you start the film, you will have a 48-hour window within which to watch it in its entirety.
Curator’s Commentary
John Denver Trending holds a mirror to society in the age of social media. What are we becoming in a time of instant online gratification and sensation, fake news and viral memes?
Arden Rod Condez was a successful and prolific writer of teleplays when some true stories he heard compelled him to write a screenplay that eventually won a prize at the Palanca literary awards and was chosen as a finalist and given seed money by Cinemalaya, the Philippines’ major independent film festival.
Condez recalls: “In 2017, our neighbor’s son fled after a video of him bullying another kid surfaced online. A boy in another town committed suicide when he was accused of stealing a gadget. A girl in another city killed herself live on Facebook. These troubling tales of Filipino millennials make me question, how does someone come of age in the time of social media?”
The screenplay came to revolve around 14-year-old John Denver Cabungcal who is caught on video when he attacks a classmate accusing him of stealing his IPad. The video goes viral and turns into a fuse for mob condemnation, memes, and fabrications that inexorably overwhelm John Denver, his mother, and well-intentioned school authorities.
With the major exception of distinguished actress Meryll Soriano who plays John’s mother, Condez cast amateurs in his hometown of Pandan, Antique, who performed in their native Kinaray-a language. The titular character was played by 15-year-old Pandan schoolboy Jansen Magpusao who had never stepped inside a movie theater and was discovered by accident (a snapshot shown to Condez, eyes that intrigued). Magpusao ended up winning Best Actor at Cinemalaya and flying to Busan for the film’s international premiere.
Throughout the film, the modern-day mob lynching is counterpointed by symbols and images of religion, authority, and patriotism, as well as village practices involving witchcraft and exorcism. Social media, as seen in this cautionary tale, exerts itself as a force that can bring the world together as well as tear it apart; a battleground of atavistic instincts and a blind need to belong that continue to lurk behind the mesmerizing glow of internet modernity.
—Gil Quito
About the Director
Arden Rod Condez graduated with a BA (cum laude) in Broadcast Communication/Literature from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas (Iloilo). Before making his film debut with John Denver Trending, he penned several teleseries for ABS-CBN, including Juanita Banana (65 of 85 episodes) and all 140 episodes of Reputasyon/Reputation. Condez’ spectacular transition to cinema got a boost from established indie filmmaker friends including Armando Lao, Sonny Calvento, and Sheron Dayoc, who worked as creative consultant or producer for the film.
Condez wrote the screenplay for the short film “Excuse Me Miss, Miss, Miss,” which had its international premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. He directed the documentary Random People which captured couples in moments of caring and intimacy in the midst of social distancing and death in the current pandemic.
Watch the Trailer
Extras
CNN Philippines interview with Condez on the making of John Denver Trending