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11 Feb, 2014

Filipino film highlights dangerous power of social media | Arab News

BERLIN: A 15-year-old’s heartbreak and obsession with the social media make for a gripping tale of how the Internet can drive fragile minds into a dangerous world, in the Filipino film “Unfriend” shown at the Berlin film festival.

Director Joselito Altarejos takes viewers on a nightmarish journey with the film’s hero David, who is jilted by his lover just before Christmas, and turns to the screens of his mobile phone, iPad and computer in a desperate attempt to prolong his connection to the 17-year-old Jonathan.

As his phone calls, text messages and Skype calls go unanswered, David becomes more and more detached from reality, and meanders through the crowds and chaos of Manila with a fatal plan forming in his head.

Altarejos based his film on the 2011 shootings in a Filipino shopping mall of two young male lovers, amateur footage of which later surfaced online and went viral.

Read the rest: Filipino film highlights dangerous power of social media | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more..