Cinema One Originals has announced that it’s making its 2007 found-footage-cum-mockumentary political thriller, Confessional available to stream for free on YouTube.

This is an interesting move. It follows the channel’s recent decision to stream That Thing Called Tadhana, arguably the festival’s greatest commercial success. According to the press release sent to us by ABS-CBN, the full film will premiere on the Cinema One YouTube Channel today, March 28, 2019, at 8:00 PM Philippine Time.

One of the greatest films in Cinema One’s roster, Confessional has been the “poster film” for the festival. It represented the kind of risque, brave, and unconventional filmmaking that the festival wanted to forward. In fact, the shot that preceded every Cinema One Original film for years was from the film.

In addition to having directed and written the film, Jerrold Tarog also edits and stars in Confessional.

Confessional is written and directed by Jerrold Tarog, whom you might know from such historical epics as Heneral Luna and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral. The film follows “filmmaker Ryan Pastor (played by Tarog) who meets former mayor Lito Caliso while on his way to Cebu to document the Sinulog Festival. Lito then confesses—in front of Ryan’s camera—all the crimes he committed while in office.” The film kicked off the Camera Trilogy, which is completed by Mangatyanan and Sana Dati.

Philbert Dy, who at the time wrote for Click The City, had this to say about the film: “This is the kind of film that we ought to be making. It’s original, it’s intelligent, and it’s really well made. Confessional bodes well for Philippine cinema as a whole and people really ought to be seeing it.” THR’s Maggie Lee, meanwhile, commended the film of how it “lures the audience into a forest of moral conundrums and ends with a twist that chills to the bone.”

Cinema One released a brand-new trailer for the film, which you can watch below:

You can watch the film for free by following this link. It’s sadly still a timely watch.

After you’ve watched it, let’s discuss the film here on the site or the Unreel Movie Club on Facebook. I’ll be sure to write something about the film.

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