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.
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 Recogn.
