The Woman in the Septic Tank

Overview

Chris Martinez wrote the screenplay for the film. Martinez and Rivera submitted the film for the "New Breed, Full Length Film" category for the 7th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. The festival was held from July 15 to the 24th at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

After the mass critical success of the movie at the film festival, Star Cinema purchased the rights to release the film for a wider release. The film was released on August 3, 2011 to over 50 theaters nationwide and grossed almost 40 million pesos becoming the highest grossing Philippine independent film at the time.

Synopsis

Jocelyn, Rainier, and Bingbong are three film school graduates who are dead-set on making an Oscar-worthy film. They set out to do a quick pre-production as a courtesy call to their lead actress played by Eugene Domingo, and a thorough inspection of their film’s major location, the Payatas dumpsite. They believe they have a winning script, and the energy and drive to make their dreams come true, no matter what the cost.

Cast

Cherry Pie Picache and Mercedes Cabral appear in cameo appearances as themselves, who are the other options of Bingbong, Rainier and Jocelyn in casting the part of Mila.

Box office

The film broke box office records for the Cinemelaya Independent Film Festival. It is the first full-length film to have its audience tickets sell to its maximum capacity within ten days of showing at the festival. The film was a commercial as well as critical success. The film earned a total of P20 million on its first five days. The total gross of the film amounted to P38.4 million, making it the highest grossing independent film in the history of Philippine cinema until it was surpassed in 2015 by That Thing Called Tadhana.

International

Richard Kuipers of Variety describes The Woman in the Septic Tank as "a lively laffer." He also praises the performance of lead actors Cipriano and de Guzman, calling it "spot-on as the guys with one eye on the slums and the other on travel and trophies." Meanwhile, Maggie Lee of The Hollywood Reporter says the film is "a lambast of the pretensions of independent cinema in his country and his fellow filmmakers' inflated egos." However, she is concerned about its "specialized topic and low-budget look" that may be off-putting for some audience, which may minimize its commercial prospect internationally. She also compares how the film replays specific sequences, each with narrative or stylistic revisions, to "a Groundhog Day of pilot filmmaking."

The film is an official entry for the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival, Pusan International Film Festival, the Hawaii International Film Festival, the Tokyo International Film Festival, and the Far East Film Festival. The film was chosen by the Film Academy of the Philippines to represent the Philippines in the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.

Awards and nominations

(*The film was under the New Breed Full Length Feature Category)

Sequel

Following the success of the film, a sequel, Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2: Forever is Not Enough, was released in December 25, 2016 as an official entry to the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival. Rivera and Martinez return as director and writer, respectively, as well as Domingo, Cipriano and Cortez reprising their roles.