Meet two new promising faces in the local movie scene, Derek Ramsay’s brother, Andrew Ramsay, and director David Olson; and a brief review of the short film Living in the Dead of Night

August opened with a bang as Cutaway Productions officially joined the film industry. The Manila-based full service video production boutique is one of the newest entertainment providers at the forefront of the content boom.

Party…

For such a young production company, founded at the height of the pandemic in 2020, it has accomplished much, including digital ads, commercials, branded narratives, long-form film, and television projects with brands such as Guess, Sanofi, Cignal, Atram, FedEx, Dito Telecommunity, Pru Life U.K., Growrich, Mountain Dew, and Tagaytay Tourism Council, to name a few.

The media launch transformed Cinema ’76 Anonas on the third floor of Anonas LRT City Center into a nightclub, replete with danceable beats playing in the background, hips swaying on the floor, free-flowing drinks, and an eclectic mix of performance artists, actors, and media practitioners in the crowd, along with the team of the rising production house.

In late July, Cutaway founders—filmmaker and head of operations David Olson, director of sales Andrew Ramsay, chief executive officer Warren Carmen, and chief financial officer Mike Stamati—announced their team had ventured into creating Filipino films that would elevate Philippine cinema to international standards.

Coinciding with the event was the premiere screening of the director’s cut of Cutaway’s first short movie, Living in the Dead of Night. David served as the director, producer, writer, cinematographer, editor, colorist, and sound designer of the film. On the other hand, the brother of one of the biggest actors in the country Derek Ramsay, Andrew Ramsay, played an important supporting role in the movie, which he helped produce.

Drugs...

The neon-noir film Living in the Dead of Night follows the narrative of Hunter (played by Andre Miguel Bongato), a sheltered teenager who sets out to find himself in the sleepless metropolis. Together with his dubious, drug-dealer friend Tom (portrayed by Andrew), Hunter joins in on a “deal of a lifetime” in some shabby motel room. This leads Hunter to experience an unforgettable night filled with fights, gambling, sex, and an all-time high.

Searching for answers in his psychedelic vacuum, Hunter witnesses the death of his youth and learns that adulthood is not what he has pictured it to be.

The cinematography captures the grime and grit of Manila after dark. Psychedelic frames induce a trip that puts the viewers into the altered state of the protagonist, dazed and confused. Andre’s acting feels natural, while Andrew does a fantastic job wearing the face of a flamboyant drug dealer.

The 30-minute film, David confessed, was his own coming-of-age story, inspired by true events. Do note, however, that the movie is not based on a true story, rather a hypertelling of one. The psychological aspects draw heavily from the life of the self-made filmmaker. It was also influenced by Argentinean filmmaker Gaspar Noé and his film Climax-A24, which revolves around delirium and drugs.

…A Philippine film revolution

Two talents showed promise at the debut of Cutaway and Living in the Dead of Night, in particular, director David and producer-actor Andrew.

The former started his career at 17, when he taught himself to edit films for two years while in high school. David filmed with international brands like Pepsi and Volvo, as well as music videos for artists Keiko Necesario and Mica Javier. The multi-awarded filmmaker has competed in several festivals such as the Florence Film Awards in Italy, Berlin Short Awards in Germany, Montreal International Film Festival in Canada, as well as Venice Shorts and Hollywood Golden Age Film Festival in America.

Apart from his recent short film with Cutaway, David had an entry in this year’s Cinemalaya titled The Dust in Your Place, a movie based on a script written by Palanca Award winner Dr. Joem Antonio, which is also the 27-year-old director’s first short film in Filipino language.

A fresh player in the Philippine entertainment scene, Andrew is on his way to build his own empire. The Filipino artist found an interest in theater at a tender age and received his training in acting at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and the Philippine Educational Theater Association. He also earned his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Acting for Film from the New York Film Academy.

Andrew returned to the Philippines after his stints with the Shakespeare and Company in London and Los Angeles, just before the pandemic hit. He now hopes to make a name for himself in the local film circle, and have been doing so with various projects including his playing of the lead role in the 2022 Cinemalaya full length film Ginhawa, as Anton Banal, an aspiring boxer who learns the ugly truth of the brutal sport in Manila.

“We want to push out more Filipino talent into the international market,” says Andrew about the rationale behind establishing Cutaway. “We want to break the typecast of Filipinos in Hollywood films as the help or maid.”

Andrew shares what he expects viewers of Living in the Dead of Night would feel, saying, “I want the audiences to be astonished, to say, ‘wow, this was a Filipino production?’”

Another primary objective of both the film and production company is to make it to the “big boys” of the international film competitions like Sundance and Cannes. “We want to put the Philippine entertainment industry on the world map, for everyone to know that we are competitive and very creative too.” He cites South Korea as example to emulate and surpass. “Our goal is to set the bar higher for the Filipino film industry.”

For David, meanwhile, the main focus is quality. “Cutaway exists to make sure that people are able to watch the best type of cinema that the country can offer, and to make sure that the rest of the world can see the type of cinema we have,” he says.