Last night, a digital series was supposed to premiere on iWant.The series is called Project Feb. 14, written and directed by Jason Paul Laxamana. It follows a couple’s plan to record and broadcast a twisted act on Valentine’s Day.
This original series is top-billed by McCoy de Leon, Jane Oineza, and JC Santos.
In a statement on Thursday, iWant and Dreamscape Digital, which produced the six-part series, announced the new premiere date of Feb. 16.
In the story, McCoy and Jane are both teenagers. The first is the delinquent and wealthy Brix and the latter is the attention- thirsty Annie.
Moonlighting as a masked cyberprostitute, Annie develops a deep friendship in the dark web with Brix, one of her customers, and decides to tell him her crazy plan to kill herself on Valentine’s Day.
When Brix suggests to join her, she decides to meet him and finally reveal her identity, and they agree on broadcasting their suicides live on social media on the day they are supposed to celebrate love.
As they spend their last two weeks living together, they encounter failed journalist Cody (JC), who proposes to make a documentary out of their daily lives leading up to Feb. 14.
Believing the documentary would make their story more popular around the world, the couple agrees, but soon realizes that they are not dealing with an ambitious journalist, but a sociopath with a disturbing agenda.
“iWant recognizes the sensitivity of the topics tackled in the series, including mental health problems, assault, and abuse, and deems it necessary to implement certain measures to safeguard the advocacy of the series in promoting mental health awareness,” the statement noted.
During the media screening of Project Feb. 14, a few issues were raised surrounding the sensitive topics tackled in the story. The reactions were mixed. Some found the series morbid, others said it’s enlightening as it could raise awareness, there were members of the media that said it’s daring and provocative, and others were just speechless. But one thing was certain: this series was causing serious debate among the invited guests.
“My concern is the effect to the viewers especially those who are experiencing depression and those who have suicidal tendencies, baka lang ma-trigger. The actors are very good and believable in their acting, so we need to be careful, and viewer discretion is advised,” said psychologist Randy Dellosa, who people would instantly recognize as Pinoy Big Brother’s resident physiologist and physiatrist and a frequent resource person for numerous reality shows.
In response, the director said, “We hope to raise awareness on mental health issues. We believe the series is a potent tool to serve as a springboard for numerous discussions related to this issue.”
He further said that the series is dark and presenting such story is a double-edged sword. But they hope the viewers would take it in a different way. Since the issues in the series happen in real life and the story itself is inspired by real people, they wanted it to serve as a platform to reach out to people who might be in need of professional help.
“We need constant communication because that’s what lacking in the life of my character,” Jane said succinctly.