Synopsis
This is an experimental film about an artist who wakes up one night to discover that he is a terrorist. He is sent abroad to bomb subways. Manila sits still. A videotape emerges. The stranger talks to the camera and a familiar voice reacts. “Todo Todo Teros” is a moving treatise on the way we terrorize the ones we love, and a surreal take on Manila and on how artists can subvert a culture by the mere act of creating works that empower and transform.
Review & Film Info
Singapore Film Festival 2006 Critics Award When I first asked John Torres for a synopsis of his film, this is what he wrote: "An artist wakes up as a terrorist. He is sent abroad to bomb subways. He hasn't gone home. Manila sits still. A videotape emerges. This stranger talks to the camera and a familiar voice reacts, blasting as they move along. Composed mostly of found footage of close friends, Filipino musicians and performance artists, the film is a surreal take on Manila and how artists can subvert a culture by the mere act of creating works that empower and transform. It is a metamovie of sorts, a self-aware film that exposes suffering, infidelity, a woman's empowerment, and filmmaking as a benign mode of terrorism against strangers and lovers alike." To me, the film (which roughly translates as Maximum Terror) reflects on how terrorism operates on a personal level. It starts from us betraying our loved ones. It then refracts itself in how society behaves, by shutting out migrants as potential terrorists, by invading the personal space through surveillance. The film shows a complete breakdown of trust where everyone watches everybody right down to the ending when the video pirates decide to release the home video of the girl whose husband is having a fling with the Russian girl in Germany. In a funny sort of way, this is a video generation Hiroshima Mon Amour. Instead of the diary of something cataclysmic that has happened, we are watching surveillance tapes of a future horror, when the complete distrust reveals everyone as the enemy. - Philip Cheah
Director : John Torres
After studying communication at the Manila University, John Torres was an apprentice to directors Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, and also to French cinematographer Michel Hugo. His work includes digital shorts, documentaries, commercials, and multimedia projects, he made his debut with Todo Todo Teros.
