Brillante Mendoza Goes Hitchcock With 'Brillante Mendoza Presents'

Phillippine filmmaker Brillante Mendoza is primarily known to film festival goers and devoted arthouse cinephiles, with the director’s pictures — such as “Kinatay,” “Captive,” and the upcoming “Ma’ Rosa“— generally making small, limited runs in the United States. But the filmmaker is nonetheless a compelling voice, and like many of his colleagues in Europe and stateside, he’s found a new outlet on the small screen.

The Manila Standard reveals that this month, the director is kicking off “Brillante Mendoza Presents” for the country’s national network, TV5. Once per month, the show will present a made-for-TV movie created by Mendoza, but it isn’t said if he’ll be directing all of them, or passing on the reins to other filmmakers. Nor is it known how long the series is expected to run. But clearly, Mendoza is stepping into “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” territory, which is pretty interesting for a director who is far less populist than the master of suspense. Hopefully, a streaming service like Mubi or Fandor will find a way to bring Mendoza’s TV work to viewers in other parts of the globe.

“Ma’ Rosa” will be released by First Run Features in the U.S. later this year.