Visioncapture Media

VISIONCAPTURE in Venice 2021

VISIONCAPTURE MEDIA comes to the 78th Venice International Film Festival with their works in progress with the assistance of the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

WORK IN PROGRESS

LUNA Y SALVACION (full feature)

The story of an Asian artist in the 1900s who rose to fame in Europe and the pride of his country, falling from grace when he kills his wife in a moment of jealous rage, destroying all that he built for himself and his country -- juxtaposed with a modern day story of a Filipina domestic worker who lived in Europe and unknowingly inherits a masterpiece from this famous artist, only to lose it because of ignorance and a disbelief in the society she lives in now.

IN POST-PRODUCTION

BREATHLESS (short film)

A heartbroken mother travels thousands of miles from Manila to Paris to find her dead daughter's former boyfriend, avenge her death by suicide, and exact justice for her daughter.

THE UNAFFAIR (short film)

Sophie's vacation paradise turns to hell as she discovers her husband David's affair with their nanny. The fight affects their toddler son but things fell in the right place after David is thrown out and Sophie and the nanny are left alone.

THE CATCH (short film)

Miguel seeks out a famous potion to make his wife fall in love with him again, but he wasn't warned about the after effects on him, after his wife takes the potion.

IN DEVELOPMENT

LAST LOOK (short film)

Rich and cocky, Tony the funeral photographer had many years of a great career when he comes close to death because of a terminal illness, and now desperately needs someone else to take his photo for his own funeral.

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For inquiries, please contact EVELYN KNAEBEL (Managing Producer) / evelyn.vargas-knaebel@netplus.ch

Lady romance novelist Amanda falls into a coma because of a motor accident, and then awakens to write a new novel based on her recurring dreams about a man she falls in love with and a mysterious love song. She awakens to a reality where she is engaged to be married to Louis, her boyfriend of six years with whom she has a long-distance relationship. Amanda then meets Miguel, the singer and recording artist who saved her during her accident, brought her to hospital, and who visited her daily while she was in a three-month coma at the hospital. Amanda instantly falls in love with Miguel for reasons she could not explain, even when she just really met him. Because Amanda is committed to Louis, she avoids Miguel. Miguel appears on television to promote his recorded single who dedicates his love song to a sleeping woman he hasn’t met. Amanda immediately recognizes the song as the one in her recurring dream. As Amanda secretly pines for Miguel, Louis comes home to her feeling that his relationship with her has turned cold and pointless, and hence, they break up. Lost and alone, Amanda retreats to a remote beach resort to concentrate on finishing her novel. On the brink of giving up, the song in her dreams leads her to a nearby resort where Miguel is slated to perform. She goes to seek out Miguel but misses him by hours as Miguel has left for the city. Amanda returns to her resort and closes her novel with a sad ending. Six months later, Amanda’s novel is published and was presented at a book launch. Miguel shows up at the book launch and he and Amanda get started on a romance story of their own, out of their dreams and into reality.

Visioncapture Media will be at the 41st Hong Kong International Film Festival and FilMart from March 13-16, 2017. We will be receiving appointments and inquiries about our current projects at the Philippines booth at the Hong Kong Convention Center, under the auspices of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).

ANG AKING JUAN LUNA (LUNA Y SALVACION)

Synopsis

Juan Luna, one of the greatest Filipino painters wins first prize for his masterpiece El Spoliarium in the world-renowned Exposicion de Bellas Artes in Madrid 1884, at a time when colonial natives were thought to have still lived in trees. Juan Luna amazes the civilized world: its aristocrats, its royalty, and its art connoisseurs. His victory is celebrated by all Filipinos who are fighting for respect and esteem, but blind to racial and colonial disdain. Juan Luna proves for that one shining moment, the colonial native can stand side by side with his master. And yet, many allege that he was deprived the highest “Prize of Honor”only because he was a non-European.

Several years after, 1892, at a brief moment of despair and a horrible jealous fit, Juan Luna shoots and kills his wife, Paz and his mother-in-law Julianna in their Paris apartment. This crime of passion, almost completely eradicates the glory of his achievement in 1884. Ironically, the very same regard to colonial natives, perceived by the European civilized world as savages and unable to control their primal passions, was the key to this great artist’s reprieve and eventual acquittal. Juan Luna, true to his name, was struck by a temporary insanity, that must have been understandable to “Indios” like him.

This film tells the story of Juan Luna through a contemporary fictional character, Salvacion, an overseas Filipino domestic who takes care of Purita, an elderly and frail Spanish-French woman who eventually passes away in her small home in Madrid. On her deathbed, Purita, moved by Salvacion’s devotion to her, gives her caregiver a gift, a rolled up canvas. Upon returning to the Philippines, Salvacion is confronted by financial problems. She realizes that all the hard work and patient suffering she endured in a country that renders her invisible and insignificant are not enough to sustain her own family. When she starts selling some of her possessions, she finds her inherited canvas and unrolls it, and finds that it is a damaged painting -- a portrait of a woman. The edges of the canvas are burned. Not knowing anything about the real value of the painting, she thinks of selling it to whoever might be interested. A neighbor of Salvacion accompanies her to an unscrupulous antique and art appraiser.

Salvacion, ignorant of the real value of paintings, readily accepts an amount a hundred times lower than the actual value of this gift, for it turns out that the painting is a portrait of Juan Luna’s wife, considered lost forever but was mysteriously spared, when Paz’s brother, Trinidad, overcome by grief and indignation over the murder, burns all of Juan Luna’s paintings left in his studio. This portrait’s discovery becomes the celebratory toast to Juan Luna’s greatness among Manila’s elite. And yet, Salvacion is unaware of all this. She lives the life of a Filipino, whose main concerns are simple. With a family that is torn apart by migrant work, she like Juan Luna, is also regarded as a second class citizen in a Europe that extols the value of art, as an index of civilization. And right in her own country, she fails to share the ecstatic celebration of Filipino art lovers, like other Filipinos whose historical and aesthetic awareness are completely dissociated from the class that hails itself as “enlightened.”

The film takes thematic comparisons between a Filipino colonial artist in Europe and a devoted Filipino caregiver/domestic -- both motivated by leaving their home to make good of themselves and their lives in another country; both struggling with a their sense of “value”, how the painter creates it in his art and gives honor and life to a national identity, and how the caregiver fails to recognize it in the face of real need; with both losing that which they truly value.

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Work In Progress / August 2021

For inquiries, please email to davefabros@gmail.com

The official poster of STRAIGHT TO THE HEART, a CineFilipino film, screening on March 16-22, 2016, at theatres. Starring Carl Guevara, Gwen Zamora, Vincent de Jesus, Ricci Chan, Kiko Matos, Nico Antonio, Pinky Amador and many more. Written and directed by David Fabros for CineFilipino. Presented by Cignal, Mediaquest, PLDT Smart, in association with Unitel, a production by Visioncapture Media, in partnership with Creative Minds Strategic Marketing and Events, and Creative Saints, sponsored by David's Salon and Watsons.

VISIONCAPTURE MEDIA in cooperation with CREATIVE MINDS MEDIA and CREATIVE SAINTS presents a CINE FILIPINO 2015 PRODUCTION, STRAIGHT TO THE HEART.

A gay hairdresser's happy life goes topsy turvy when a head injury sends him into a coma, and he wakes up a straight man. Now in production, STRAIGHT TO THE HEART will have its Philippines premiere at the Cine Filipino Film Festival in Manila. The film stars Carl Guevara, Gwen Zamora, Vince de Jesus, Ricci Chan, Kiko Matos, Nico Antonio, Garie Concepcion, Evelyn Vargas, Allan Forte, Cris Lomotan, and Pinky Amador. The film is written and directed by Frank David Fabros. Cinematography by Topel Lee. Production Design by JP Sapitula. Musical Direction by Vince de Jesus. Produced by Cine Filipino, in partnership with Watson's, Lux Body Wash, and David's Salon. Producers: Evelyn Vargas-Knaebel, Harry Velasco, Badette Quintana-Mariano, Carlo Maceda, and Yvonne Ramos-Valdez