Inspired by Sutukil Sauce’s miniseries, Chismis Sa Mga Saop ni Diniris, a parody adaptation to Game of Thrones. Inday Opil Goes to Heaven follows through a similar satiric approach in building an adaptation from Hamlet. Regarded as one of the greatest literary masterpieces, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. left a white and male centric print in multiple media forms that persists for centuries. Yet for ages, Ophelia has lingered in the shadows—a woman whose destiny is shaped by the men around her. In Inday Opil Goes to Heaven, I aimed to flip that script, to infuse her story with new life –- or rather, in her afterlife— and to delve into a version of Ophelia who refuses to be just another victim of a male-dominated society.

This film is all about taking back control. It presents Ophelia not as a mere casualty, but as a survivor—someone who challenges the fate that’s been thrust upon her. This film exposes the raw and vulnerable discovery of liberation from patriarchal forces.

Spiritually, the film aims to take influences from Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010). Aesthetically incorporating soft glow, dream-like visuals to the film’s coloring and VFX. Thematically, I wanted to capture Ophelia’s inner transformation. Her story is driven from her own internalized misogyny, as she ventures into embracing her own power. Water, representing both entrapment and rebirth, plays a vital role in our narrative; where Shakespeare’s Ophelia sinks, ours rises. Operating from a place of empowered resistance through Third Cinema, Inday Opil Goes to Heaven also happens to expose socio-economic hegemonies in the Philippines; all while playing as a tribute to the first Cebuano cinema Golden age, this film is inspired by Ang Manok ni San Pedro (1977). Other films such as Patay na si Hesus (2016) and Y Tu Mama Tambien(2001) were strong thematic influences that encapsulates commentary to present day socio-economic, gender politics, and post-colonization.