A leaked frontal videos and screen capped of Indie King Coco Martin in the multi-awarded indie film Serbis is now circulating the internet and are getting high hits on Youtube. Many suspect it to be fake, digitally enhanced. Others says its prosthetics.
As reported, Coco Martin felt violated and this incident put the trust and relationship he had with Cannes Film Festival Best Director Brillante Mendoza in jeopardy.
The said frontal nudity in the movie was never commercially shown in the Philippines and should not be released whether in video or in photo, according to source close to Coco.
Watch below that controversial frontal nudity scene in the movie "Serbis" (watch it on 2:30-4:50 sequence).
International award-winning independent film 'Serbis' (Service) by Brillante Mendoza (Slingshot, The Masseur, Summer Heat, Foster Child)will be shown in selected theaters in the US on January 16, 2009.
Rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America, Serbis is being distributed in the US by Regent Releasing.
Check out the US poster, international movie trailer and synopsis of Serbis below:
Synopsis: Filipino director Brillante Mendoza brings a frank, gritty immediacy to SERBIS, a multi-character, day-in-the-life portrait of a family-run movie house in the Philippines. Only this isn�t your� Filipino director Brillante Mendoza brings a frank, gritty immediacy to SERBIS, a multi-character, day-in-the-life portrait of a family-run movie house in the Philippines. Only this isn�t your typical movie house. It�s actually a downtrodden venue that shows graphic double features and allows the clientele to make their own sexual connections in the dark shadows. Today is a very important day, for Nanay Flor, the family matriarch, is going to discover if she won a years-in-the-making bigamy case against her husband. Meanwhile, her children are involved in dramatic situations of their own. Alan has just learned troubling news about his girlfriend, and Nayda is married but attracted to her cousin Ronald. As the day develops and the verdict comes down, the Pinedas struggle to focus on the daily tasks associated with the theater, even as their own personal conflicts threaten to overwhelm them. Shot on video, SERBIS recalls films from the Dogme 95 movement. Mendoza and screenwriter Armando Lao have clearly constructed these dramatic situations, yet they are shot on consumer video with such energy that the film often feels like a documentary. Mendoza pulls no punches, showing multiple scenes of behind-the-scenes sexuality that are even more graphic than the X-rated behavior unfolding on the cavernous theater�s silver screen. SERBIS provides a realistic, unflinching glimpse into this hyper-sexualized world.
Serbis (Service) stars Coco Martin (The Masseur), Jacklyn Jose (Consol), Kristoffer King, Julio Diaz, Dan Alvaro and Gina Pare�o (The Collector).
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY ABOUT SERBIS:
"Slightly more evolved from a narrative perspective than his previous feature Tirador (Slingshot), Serbis (Service) is another overwhelmingly tactile experience that should further cement the prolific filmmaker�s reputation." - John P. McCarthy (Boxoffice Magazine)
"Raw and Uncompromising." - New York Film Festival
"Bristling Sexuality, both gay and straight." - The Hollywood Reported
Indie film Serbis won the Best Director Award for Brillante Mendoza and Best Actress Award for Gina Pare�o in the Pacific Meredian International Film Festival of Asian-Pacific Countries held in Vladivostok, Russia last Sept. 13 to 19. Director Mendoza attended the festival to accept the awards.
Serbis which premiered to mixed reviews in Cannes main competition last May had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Regent Entertainment has acquired the US distribution Regent Entertainment and they have confirmed that Serbis will open theatrically in select cities in the US in November. It will have its US premiere as an official selection in the New York Film Festival next month.
Regent said with the release of Serbis this year, it is possible that it will qualify for the Best Foreign Language Film category in the Golden Globes awards and critics awards like the Los Angeles and New York Film Critics Awards.
Fortissimo executives Michael Werner and Wouter Barendrecht announced that they have finalized the Canadian deal of Serbis for Maximum Distribution for English Canada and Seville Pictures for French Canada.
French co-producer Dider Costet is also releasing Serbis in France in November. Equation (the distributing arm of Swift Productions) is handling the French distribution of the film.
Thailand�s Sahamongko Films plans to release Serbis later this year. Other territories which acquired Serbis so far are Benelux with Paradiso Entertainment, Singapore and Brunei with Cathay, Portugal with Lusomundo, Greece with Seven Films and in Israel with United King.
Brillante will attend the New York screening of Serbis on Oct. 12. He will also serve as instructor at the Asian Film Academy (Sept. 25 to Oct. 12) in Pusan, Korea. Director Hou Hsiao Hsien will be this year�s Dean of the AFA.
In November, Brillante will sit as a member of the jury in the international competition section of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece where Serbis will be screened in the Independence Days section with Francis Pasion�s Jay. Paolo Villlaluna and Ellen Ramos� Selda is in the main competition section.
