Documentaries often do one of two things: they open your eyes to a topic or story you might have had no knowledge about or they add to the knowledge you already have. But good documentaries are valuable to both kinds of viewers, giving the audience a deeper understanding of their subjects. The Probe Team did just that with its recent documentary Seksi Pantasya at Pelikula (Vivamax, Probe Archives Documentary, 2024). Vivamax is a subscription service website, where people can pay to access movies on a monthly paid subscription account, in addition, they also have pay-per-view content. The popularity of the subscription site has soared in recent years. Amid a yearlong pandemic and record unemployment rates, Vivamax exploded into the private lives of Filipinos providing a place for actors and filmmakers to let loose and indulge in creating and engaging in adult content. While businesses around the country struggled, Vivamax saw a massive surge aided in part by celebrities helping legitimize the platform. I already knew a lot about Vivamax because of its large presence on social media, but this documentary is a good start for those who know nothing and want a quick, concise introduction to the divisive world of Vivamax. This film treats its subjects like people — which is the bare minimum — but still rare for documentaries on this subject matter.
The documentary also shows the creators in control of their own work. Seksi Pantasya at Pelikula takes a different approach to telling the story, introducing you to the featured actors and filmmakers before diving in to a thought-provoking conversation of the forces that led to the rise of a platform like Vivamax and a conversation about it’s potential staying power. Seksi Pantasya at Pelikula features appearances from actors Alma Moreno, Katya Santos, Maui Taylor, Jay Manalo, Angeli Khang, AJ Raval, and Sean de Guzman. In addition, the documentary also includes commentaries from directors Celso Ad Castillo, Jose Javier Reyes, Erik Matti, Roman Perez, Jr. and Professor Rolando Tolentino who will unpack the ways in which Vivamax may be changing Philippine cinema for both good and bad - forever. You don’t leave Seksi Pantasya at Pelikula with a desire to subscribe nor does it make the platform look particularly attractive from the consuming end. What it succeeds at is sparking an open conversation about sexy movies, removing the stigma from the narrative and examining it like any other type of Filipino film. It covers a lot of ground in under 50-minutes, from conversations about body image and even ways to find a connection on the other end of a screen. For a generation fixated on fame and sex positivity, Vivamax offers the perfect combination.
Writers: January Acosta, Michael Rolluque
Edit Supervisor: Dessa Jimenez
Editors: Charles de los Santos,CJ Bibon, Gio Gonzalves
Master Editor: Leo Cruz
Musical Scoring: Paulo Almaden
Researcher: Searle Lira
