Making a more indelible Mark with La Visa Loca

Fresh from the success of the multi-awarded Crying Ladies, Mark Meily returns with yet another potential commercial and critical hit. La Visa Loca — a satiric look at the Filipino’s obsession with the American Dream — was shot from Meily’s screenplay, Pasyon USA.

Meily has been directing TV commercials for 12 years and had since won several Creative Guild and Advertising Congress awards. An alumnus of the UP College of Fine Arts and a Mowelfund Film Institute Scholar, Meily started writing and directing short films (including two features, Pangako ng Bagong Simulain and Mabuhay) in 1987, for which he won a number of CCP Alternative Film and Video honors and an Urian nomination. He represented the Philippines in art film festivals in Belgium, Germany and Hong Kong. He joined the movie industry as a production manager and worked with revered Filipino directors Mike de Leon and Ishmael Bernal.

In 1989, he became a French Government Scholar and studied at the Ecole Superieure d’Etudes Cinematographiques (ESEC)in Paris and at the Centre Audio-Visuel de Langues Modernes (CAVILAM) in Vichy.

Meily directed TV commercials upon his return to the Philippines and joined Unitel Productions in 2001. Crying Ladies marked his mainstream directorial debut to overwhelmingly successful results, winning major prizes at the Metro Manila Film Festival including Best Picture and Best Director, among others. Crying Ladies was also the only MMFF entry to be given a grade of A by the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, cited for topnotch production, artistic, and technical values as well as the excellent performances of its actors.

With the tremendous success of Crying Ladies, is Meily feeling the pressure?

"I have always regarded myself as a spectator first. La Visa Loca is one film I had fun doing. After watching the film several times, natatawa pa rin ako," he admits. "I believe that if I enjoy the film as audience, then the Filipinos too will enjoy it — regardless of who directed the film. I believe that by telling the story well enough, I have somehow succeeded."

Comparing the production processes of Crying Ladies and La Visa, the director explains, "We wanted a different look for La Visa Loca. We aimed for more locations, more exteriors. The shots are 90 percent hand-held. We also had a tighter schedule and smaller budget here compared to Crying Ladies. I learned so many things when we shot Crying Ladies that we were able to apply to the new movie. On both films, I would say we had very good pre-production and this is one secret in making shoots smooth sailing."

He’s only done two, but does the director personally think that a distinct ‘Mark Meily style’ is already emerging? "The two films belong to a similar genre. To a lot of people who saw the edit of the two films, they notice that my brand of humor is something bordering on the absurd," he says. "However, in the future, I would also want to do an action film or something more serious or even sexy. Let’s see — once they’re made, only then can I say that my style has indeed emerged!"