When a Small Drama Turned into a Test of Endurance.
Few regional films in recent years have felt as intimate yet as turbulent as Salisihan. On the surface, it plays like a quiet domestic drama — a story about love, betrayal, and forgiveness within a small Filipino community — but behind the camera, it became a real-life test of endurance. The cast and crew of Salisihan went through more than just the creative grind of filmmaking; they endured emotional fatigue, financial strains, and personal heartbreaks that eerily mirrored the chaos their characters lived on screen.
The word salisihan itself, in Tagalog, means “cheating” or “deception.” That single word set the emotional tone for everything — not only in the story but also in the unpredictable circumstances that unfolded during production.
An Examination of Infidelity With the Use of Emotions, and the Line Between the Two
At its most basic, Salisihan is an unvarnished study of infidelity. It is not the romanticized infidelity from the big screen, but an inwardly painful and guilt-ridden infidelity that is messy and raw. Mara and Anton, the young couple, start to have a broken marriage, where unaddressed and hidden tensions start to fester. The consequences of the spiral within Mara, after her marriage to Anton crumbles, could have been avoided if she had been less reckless and not sought solace with another man.
Infidelity is not merely an act of lust; the film captures the insatiable yearning for an emotional connection as well. There is an existential solitude that each character bears, that is true for the lover as well as the betrayed. The mother’s emotional collapse and her complicity, through silence, to cover for her unfaithful husband, and the indifferent friend who poses as neutral are proof of the desolation that accompanies moral failure.
There is a beautiful honesty to Salisihan that truly sets it apart. There are no corny soundtracks to cue the viewers for a heartbreaking scene. There are no dramatic fight sequences and the resolution, much to the surprise of the audience, is a plausible silence.
When Real Life Became the Script
Mara’s lead actress described how emotionally exhausting the performance was. In interviews, she remarked how difficult it was to play a woman suffering from the internal conflict of guilt and desire and how it affected her own life. At the time, she was going through a breakup, and the boundaries between acting and reality became dangerously wobbly. One of the film’s most haunting scenes, where Mara is alone at the dining table and cannot eat after a painful confession, was reportedly shot in one take because the actress genuine broke down. The director just didn’t call “cut.”
Anton’s actor, noted for his self-control, also confronted his own shadows while performing. He lost a loved one just days before filming started, and his raw grief appeared on screen. The deep, angry sadness during the confrontational scenes was not the result of rehearsed acting, it came from a far deeper place. Co-stars later remarked that during emotionally charged scenes, the other cast members were unable to meet his gaze because the atmosphere was oppressive, and it, too, was unsettling.
This soft spoken director, a perfectionist, once remarked in a behind the scenes Q&A that the emotional weight, and subsequent guilt the actors were feeling, was far too excessive for him to allow.
But he also thought that truth in art is recognized only after performers leave a part of themselves behind that they can never reclaim.
The Production That Almost Fell Apart
While the on-screen story revolved around broken trust, the off-screen journey was about survival. Salisihan was made on a shoestring budget. Halfway through production, one of the film’s controversial funding partners withdrew due to disputes over the film’s bold subject matter. Crew members went unpaid for weeks, and some lighting equipment was rented on credit. The cast even chipped in portions of their salaries to keep the shoot running.
On top of the existing challenges, the film was captured during the rainy season in a remote province. Flash floods destroyed several set locations and one of the crew vans was stuck on a mud road for the entire night. The actress portraying Mara caught a high fever during the middle of shooting, however, she was adamant on performing a key emotional scene in her condition. It was on this scene, the one in which she collapses and cries on a wet street, that critics described her performance as “achingly authentic.”
The cinematographer faced his own adversities as well: he lost a large portion of his equipment when a storage facility flooded during a storm and was forced to improvise lighting with household bulbs and mirrors. Instead of being a disaster, these circumstances allowed the film Salisihan to attain a distinct look. The film features intentionally dim and claustrophobic interiors which encapsulate the sense of emotions trapped within the walls.
The Shadows of Censorship and Controversy
Salisihan was controversial even before it was released. Its promotional materials suggested possible storylines of adultery and sexuality as well as moral hypocrisy; issues that continue to make discomfort in conservative circles. There were also some local boards that issued refusal certifications because of “too intimate” or “socially offensive” cuts.
The prolonged silence sparked controversy and delayed the premiere of the film for almost three more months. “We didn’t shoot sex scenes to excite,” he said in one interview. “We shot them to expose the silence that comes after.” During the opening night of the local film festival, the audience stood up and applauded while critics called the film “painful yet necessary cinema.”
When Audiences Saw Themselves
Salisihan was notable for viewers was igniting conversations about emotional honesty in Marriage. It was the first time the topic had been approached with such nuance in regional cinema that it created for the film massive conversations disproportionate to the limited resources of the film made. It was the first time the topic had been approached with such nuance. The film was notable for viewers because it ignited conversations about emotional honesty in marriage.
The film’s lack of judgment stands out the most. There was no sinless being, no flawless individual, no exception. The audience was able to take home that feeling of humanity for everyone involved long after the film was over.
The Cast and Crew, Bonds That Outlasted the Storm
When Salisihan was complete, the cast and crew were different. They had shared small living quarters, eaten the same lunches, and shared the same tiredness and laughter when lighting the candles during the nightly power outages. One assistant director remembered the lack of champagne, and local beer was served during the karaoke wrap party, but everyone sang with tears in their eyes.
When the film was award-winning in the small international festivals, the team were able to reunite to watch it and said it was like looking in a mirror, not of their art, but of their art and endurance.
In a sense, Salisihan became its own metaphor: the story of a struggle, a story of people who hurt one another but manage to find grace in forgiveness. And for those who did, every scar from that production became a badge of truth — proof that to tell a story about heartbreak, you need to live a little of it.