Unitel Pictures
Unitel Pictures is a Philippine independent film production company. History. The film company was established in 2001 by Tony Gloria. "American Adobo", co-produced with Star Cinema, was its maiden movie. Prior to establishing Unitel, Gloria served as supervising producer of Viva Films from its inception to 1987 and executive producer of Viva's subsidiary Falcon Films in 1988. In 1989, he left Viva and established his own film company "Filmstar", known for releasing a slew of Joey de Leon's hit movies Elvis and James (1989) and Barbi for President (1991). In 1992, Filmstar closed and Gloria  focused solely on TV commercials. In 2003, Unitel began producing and distributing its own movies. Among its critically-acclaimed and award-winning movies are "Crying Ladies", "Santa Santita", "La Visa Loca", "Inang Yaya" and Peque Gallaga's directorial comeback film "Pinoy/Blonde". In 2004, "Imelda" was banned from Philippine cinemas for 20 days, as requested by Imelda Marcos to the Makati Regional Trial Court. However, it was canceled after Unitel filed a petition to reverse the ban. Upon its release to cinemas worldwide, it became a hit, earning more than "Spider-Man 2" in the Philippines. In 2005, Unitel acquired  worldwide rights to the Filipino-American thriller film "Cavite". In 2010, MediaQuest Holdings acquired a 30% stake of Unitel Group. As part of Unitel's alliance with MediaQuest, it ventured into TV production with the 2010 series "Inday Wanda", starring Eugene Domingo. Among its co-productions are "" (2012) and "Maledicto" (2019). In 2016, Unitel and MediaQuest launched an annual indie film festival CineFilipino.