UPSTREAM partners with GMovies to bring films closer to Filipino viewers and help content creators showcase their works
Many will agree that watching a movie in a cinema is an experience on its own—the smell of buttered popcorn wafting inside the place, the anticipation for the film to begin as you watch trailers, and the collective gasps, laughter, or screams during a particular scene. But due to Covid-19, most cinemas remain closed to moviegoers, forcing people to find creative ways to recreate this experience in their own homes.
This situation also hinders movie creators to showcase their works.
To combat this challenge, UPSTREAM, a Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD) platform created by Filipinos, partners with GMovies. Through this collaboration, proudly Filipino-made films alongside international films can be viewed, giving local producers a space to ensure that their content reaches a wider audience.
“Just like us, Filipino content producers have been displaced by the pandemic. We’re pretty sure, that there’s a lot more content producers out there that also have their content, and they don’t know where to show it,” says award-winning director and managing creative partner UPSTREAM, Erik Matti during the press launch of the said partnership. “We started talking about how we could start an online streaming platform. The whole idea of putting it up was over the years, content producers have been at the mercy of where we could show our films. We bring out so much money to produce movies, we find ways to tell the best story there is. But in the end, producers don’t have much control over how their content is going to be seen by the audience.”
On Nov. 14, UPSTREAM and GMovies’ partnership was formally launched with a special offer that any movie lovers cannot turn down—14 films for 14 days for only P1 each. The 14-on-14 line-up will include a string of classics from Regal.
- Shake, Rattle and Roll 3
- Ang Babaeng Putik
- The Debutantes
- Dahas
- Woke Up Like This
- Bala at Lipstick
- Starzan: Shouting Star of the Jungle
- Daddy's Little Darlings
- Rakenrol
- Diliryo
- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
- Inday Bote at ang Mahiwagang Bibe
- Sinungaling Mong Puso
- Bihagin: Bilibid Boys
“We really envision UPSTREAM to be a place where all content producers are welcome. We all know that content in the Philippines is so diverse and we want the diversity to come out,” Erik continues. “We envision this this platform to be very inclusive about all the Filipino content producers, that anybody can go in that they could demand how their movies would be seen, by what kind of pricing they want, how long they want to stay in the platform, how they could find their audience.”
In line with championing the Filipino spirit, UPSTREAM and GMovies will be extending help to the victims of typhoons “Rolly” and “Ulysses” by donating to Ayala Foundation’s Project Pananagutan.
Moreover, this platform will be the exclusive streaming venue for QCinema from Nov. 27 to Dec. 6, and the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2020, which starts on Dec. 25.
From Dec. 7 to 24, viewers can also take a trip down memory lane as UPSTREAM shows MMFF classics and favorites leading up to this year’s festival grand premiere.