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 lovers, amateur footage of which later surfaced online and went viral. "A 13-year-old boy killed his boyfriend and killed himself inside a mall. The video was uploaded on Facebook. I promised myself I would do something about it. I would show people how social media has changed the way we live our lives, how we have become performers, and how social media has also made us voyeurs and exhibitionists," Altarejos told Reuters. The film has a universal message in showing the dangers that the unfiltered information available online can hold for teenagers — putting them in touch with shady individuals, or informing them how to handle a firearm, for example. — Reuters
