A movie inspired by a viral catfishing thread that shocked Filipinos at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic will be shown exclusively in a cinema chain starting next week.
Ayala Malls Cinemas is bringing Quark Henares’ “Marupok A+” to its theaters starting July 10.
The queer comedy-thriller takes off from a viral thread on the X (formerly Twitter) platform posted on March 2020 by a transgender woman Jzan Tero who accused multimedia artist Sam Morales of a catfishing scam.
Morales has worked with big brands like H&M, Teviant and Jag.
Tero met Bilko “Bill” Argana through a dating app, who turned out to be an accessory to Morales’ plot of deceiving transwomen into engaging in fake relationships online.
Morales said she grew “hatred” toward the LGBTQ+ community after getting bullied by them when she was younger.
I got catfished: a (really long) thread pic.twitter.com/5BQ2G5kcif
— Jzan Tero (@JzanVern) March 30, 2020
ALSO READ: Unfortunate ‘catfishing’ testimonies vs Sam Morales surfaced online. Is this alleged scheme a crime?
“Marupok A+” follows Janzen Torres (EJ Jallorina), a hopeless romantic who goes on a dating app and matches with the seemingly perfect Theo Balmaceda (Royce Cabrera).
On the day of their first date, Janzen gets ghosted.
This leads to an intricately-planned web of deceit, lies, and catfishing planned by sociopathic mastermind Beanie Landridos (Maris Racal) who is responsible for all of Janzen’s struggles.
“Marupok A+” was initially shown at last year’s Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.
The movie was awarded Special Jury Recognition at the 2023 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
It also premiered at the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival.
“Marupok A+” stars Maris Racal, Royce Cabrera and EJ Jallorina.
Maris, a “Pinoy Big Brother” alumnus, is known for her breakthrough role as Irene Young-Tiu in the ABS-CBN Netflix series “Can’t Buy Me Love.”
Royce, meanwhile, had his breakout role in the 2019 Cinemalaya film “Fuccbois” and went on to portray significant roles in the GMA TV series “Makiling,” “Lilet Matias, Attorney At Law,” “The Write One” and “Widows’ War.”
EJ, on the other hand, is a transgender who started out as child star in the hit TV show “Goin’ Bulilit” and starred in TV shows and films such as “Marry Me, Marry You” and “Mamu and a Mother Too.”