Director Nijel De Mesa promotes Filipino stories through NDM Studios

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May 2, 2025 | 12:00am

With his passion for directing and writing, it seems natural for Nijel De Mesa to lead an independent multimedia studio, like NDM Studios. He sits as its chairman and CEO.

“Our specialization is developing full-length films,” said Nijel in an interview with The STAR. “pero nag-branch out na rin po kami sa TV series, lifestyle, vertical series po (but we have also branched out into doing TV series, lifestyle, vertical series).”

Its first TV series is “Arci’s Mundo,” a travel and lifestyle content with actress Arci Muñoz as the host and tour guide and NDM Studios has produced the online drama series “Purse Lady,” featuring Meg Imperial in the lead role.

Director Nijel said their content can be accessed on the streaming platform, Just Vibing, and via social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook. The former is an application available on Google Play and Apple Store.

Before putting up the company, direk Nijel used to work as a director for other producers. His career in directing and writing jumpstarted with films like “Kontradiksyon,” “Respeto” that won in Cinemalaya, and “Coronaphobia.” “Basically, my discipline when I graduated was in theater, nasa CCP ako nag-di-direct ng musicals (I was directing musicals at CCP),” said he. “I was in Trumpets and Repertory until I ventured into film and I worked for ABS-CBN and GMA.”

Then the time for him to tell his own stories came and that led to the creation of NDM Studios.

“Kasi yung mga stories namin hindi lang basta romcom (our stories are not just romcom),” shared he. “Sometimes, I develop stories that are a fusion of fantasy, comedy and drama, mga ganun, hindi siya formula (it’s not formulaic), hindi siya masyadong kakagatin. So, we developed NDM Studios for other forms of storytelling.”

Since NDM Studios has become successful in producing content, Nijel gave his team the well-deserved pat on their back by going to the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market (Filmart) and Disneyland. NDM Studios has offices in Singapore, Taipei and Japan. It was Nijel’s way to reward the loyalty of the staff and creative force behind the company.

Acquiring content for the global audience was another reason for being there.

Members of NDM Studios got together and bonded on a trip Nijel considered as “a sort of team-building effort.”

“I just want to show them that I respected their input in the company and I also wanted them to be able to physically talk to each other because they would do Zoom oftentimes,” said he. “‘pag nagkakaroon kami ng usapan (whenever we have meetings and conversations).”

NDM Studios was also given the chance to meet other nationalities at the HK film market and talk about its lifestyle and online series since team members can speak languages such as Mandarin and Nihongo. It’s safe to say that the company was able to expand its horizons and connect with other creatives.

“We developed a foreign council whose job is to relate to other business people in other territories,” said Nijel. “We want to touch base with other people in the Asia Pacific region.”

He hoped that it will open an avenue to further showcase the talents of other Filipino filmmakers and the Philippine film industry in all parts of the globe.

“Para matulungan ko yung ibang filmmakers natin, particularly yung independent filmmakers natin (to help our other filmmakers, particularly the independent filmmakers),” said he. “We can market our stories in the Philippines kasi po magagaling ang filmmakers sa Pilipinas (we have very good filmmakers in the country).”

Through NDM Studios, Nijel aspires for Filipino filmmakers and stories to go worldwide.