Sharon, Gabby presence on KC’s premiere awaited with bated breath

Since “For The First Time” is having its premiere night come August 26, many people are eagerly waiting if KC Concepcion’s mom Sharon Cuneta, papa Gabby Concepcion and daddy Kiko (Sen. Francis Pangilinan) would all grace the premiere of her debut film with Richard Gutierrez.

“I am also waiting if that could happen. But if that doesn’t happen, then there must be a reason why it won’t happen. I guess it would be better if all of us would see each other privately first,” said KC.

But is it true that Sharon Cuneta is not going to attend the premiere night so that KC can have the limelight all to herself?

Gabby Concepcion also expressed interest to attend the premiere (after all KC said everybody is welcome) and the actor had been quite vocal that he’s attending the premiere.

For her part, Sharon feels that her presence on the event (and Gabby’s too) would needlessly draw attention to them and rob KC of the spotlight that should belong to her.

“Instead of giving KC the spotlight, Sharon feels if she and Gabby were there, they would surely steal the thunder from her daughter so she’s giving way,” said a person close to Sharon.

KC would be happy to see her parents attend the premiere of her debut film. Of course, she wants them to be proud of her. If we were Sharon, if only for KC’s sake, we would attend the premiere, no matter if Gabby would also choose to attend. But only Sharon could decide on that. And just like KC, all we can do now is wait and see.

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CineMabuhay, now on its second year, is producing a new project entitled “Cul-de-Sac” (Dead End) for the PLDT-Smart Foundation together with Mr. Butch Meily, president of PSF, and Albert Martinez, PSF executive director (Film Fund).

They are now on their third week of filming this project with Sam Milby, Jodie Sta. Maria-Lacson and Chin-Chin Gutierrez in the lead roles.

 “This is my commitment to the film industry. If before I used to produce awards nights, this time my thrust or our thrust is to help new filmmakers. We want to help discover new directors, scriptwriters and producers for mainstream cinema,” said Albert, who is also supported in this endeavor by Mr. Manny Pangilinan (chairman of PSF).

“Our main goal is to support and finance new filmmakers who have the potential to make it in the mainstream market. We shoot in digital format,” added Albert who said there was a team of PSF executives who picked “Cul-de-Sac” for funding.

“We are looking for materials that have commercial value. Once we’ve chosen the entries, we invite the filmmakers to pitch in their project. And then we see from how they present their project to us, like which one of these new directors has the vision with regards to his project. From then, we make our choice as to which film fits our criteria. Out of 39 entries, we picked 10 finalists, with the script of Juan Miguel Sevilla getting the green light.”

“Cul-de-Sac” (Dead End), a suspense thriller to be headlined by Sam Milby and directed by the writer himself, Juan Miguel Sevilla, was given a budget of P1 million.

“For now, we are only doing one film a year but hopefully, in the succeeding years, we could do two, or even more. If this movie is successful and the director gets the right exposure with the help of Cinemabuhay, we might get additional funds to produce more films per year,” explained Albert.

Albert, together with Mr. Butch Meily, also said he signed up a Memorandum of Agreement with Cinema One, paving the way for film projects of Cinemabuhay to be shown on Cinema One. “Numbalikdiwa” premiered last August 17 at Cinema One.

He said the plan is for “Cul-de-Sac” to be shown abroad and possibly compete in film festivals. “Cul-de-Sac” is a suspense thriller cum love story revolving around call centers. It will be first shown at the anniversary of PLDT in November.

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Premiered as a blockbuster movie in the 90’s, now with a new generation cast of characters, “Batang X: The Next Generation” comes back as a TV series on TV 5.

It stars Alex Romano, Joyce Ching, Charles Llado, Joshua Dionisio, Jeon Macatangay and Michael de Mesa as Kuwago. It is created by multi-awarded filmmakers Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes.

Kuwago is now assembling a new Batang X team simply to tap the talents of these extraordinary kids, to guide them, and to encourage them to serve humanity. Kuwago understands these adolescents are fragile adults-in-the-making, and the last thing they want is feel different. But that is exactly what happens to them by virtue of their extraordinary abilities. They feel freakish about them and do their best to hide them. For Kuwago, this is a waste of the teens’ innate abilities.

“Batang X: The Next Generation” airs every Friday, 7 to 8 p.m. on TV 5.