Gabby Eigenmann nabs award for OFW film

Kapuso actor Gabby Eigenmann won the best actor award for the indie film “A Better Life” at the Anak OFW Film Fest. The awards night was held at SM Cinema 12 last Tuesday.

“I was surprised,” he said in a text message. “I dedicated my award to the organizers of the Anak OFW Film Festival and to the OFWs who we call our new heroes.”

The filmfest is a project of IMPACT Creative Organization for Development and Empowerment (IMPACT CODE).

“A Better Life” is Gabby’s second indie film. He won the FAMAS best supporting actor for the indie film “Asintado,” directed by Louie Ignacio, an entry at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival last year.

“Acting is my passion. I want to stay long in the business that’s why I am very passionate about what I do,” said Gabby. “I don’t do acting projects to win awards. That is a bad mindset. When I accept an acting assignment, foremost in my mind is to do my job well. I just do my best. If I get praised for my work or get an award for it, thank you. If not, thank you still. What is important is that I did my best.”

Gabby, who is more identified as a TV actor, did “Asintado” last year. He was thankful to Direk Louie for entrusting him the role. “He was the one who paved the way for me to do an indie film, and it was for Cinemalaya at that, so it was really a pleasant experience,” he said.

He has had several offers to do indie films but couldn’t accept them because of his busy schedule. He also had to forego doing two mainstream movies this year – “The Prenup” and “The Haunted Mansion”—because his calendar couldn’t accommodate it.

But Gabby is thankful that he has been busy doing TV shows on GMA-7, his home network. He did “Pari Koy” and “InstaDad” at the same time. Then he was added to the cast of “Beautiful Strangers.” When this show was about to end, he was offered “A Better Life.”

“I support the advocacy of OFWs. Ang hirap na mawalay ka sa pamilya. They say OFWs ang mga bagong bayani. Sila talaga actually. But the thing is, bakit pag kumikita ang Pilipinas masaya lahat pero kapag may problema sila, ang hirap. Sana maging patas. They are working their asses off. Hindi sila magtratrabaho abroad if they have work here. They are seeking greener pastures pero ang nasa-sacrifice ay ang family nila at ang personal life nila,” Gabby enthused.

Another high point for Gabby in 2015 was his winning the TV Actor of the Year at the PEP Awards for his work in “Dading” where he played a gay dad.

“I was surprised. When I heard about the PEP Awards, the first thing that came into my mind was the voting process. Eh alam mo naman ang crowd ko, hindi naman ako supported ng young ones kundi ng mga young-at-heart. Ang audience ko ay yung mga medyo may edad na. Pag sinabi mo PEP, maiisip mo yung botohan ng mga fans. But I learned there were the editors who deliberated and cast their votes. I was really surprised when I won,” said Gabby.

“It was a tough year for me. Lumabas ang ‘Dading.’ It was hard for me to play a gay character when my dad just passed away. The PEP award was very timely for me to honor my dad. It was the only soap that my dad gave me the thumbs up sign for before he died. He said I was good in my role. It was one soap that I could have elevated with him because it was so successful. It was my first ever title role. Lahat naman ng ginagawa kong project, not for anything else, I always do my best para ma-appreciate ng daddy ko para makita lang niya na I was doing okay. Because I’ve been in this business for almost 20 years na. When I won at the PEP Awards, somehow it felt parang nabigyan ako ng stamp of approval. But I also feel pressured because for sure people will be on the lookout what I will do next.”

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“Daisy” is one of the entries chosen by the MMFF in the New Wave Category. It is now showing in cinemas until December 24. The production team behind “Daisy” is proud because their film made it as one of the finalists out of more than 50 entries.

Barbara, a wife and a mother, agrees to order for her family their very own Proxy Daisy, a robot made to perform household duties. The family soon gets used to Daisy, but Barbara still can’t shake off the feeling that something is not right. Is Barbara being paranoid or is Daisy hiding something?

The story for “Daisy” was inspired by the Eraserheads song “Superproxy,” about a friend one can depend on whenever one needs a break from life. The director interpreted this as some kind of robot that can take someone else’s place.

To balance out the dark theme of the film, the story was set in a 1950s-esque world where the technology to build robots already exists yet people still use vinyl records, and computers seem to be non-existent. In turn, the setting was inspired by films produced in the 1950s and 1960s like “Singin’ in the Rain” and other musicals, where the mood is generally lighthearted. These combined elements gave the film a somewhat macabre suspense-comedy feel.

“Daisy” was shot at an old home from October 24 to 25 this year using only a Nikon D5100. The next day, it was edited using Adobe Premiere. Cinematography-wise, the film took cues from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which also gave “Daisy” her title since at the climax of the space opera, the character HAL 9000 suddenly begins singing the 1892 song “Daisy Bell” in a jarring manner.

The team behind “Daisy,” FRANCO Films, is composed of AB Communication students from Colegio de San Lorenzo in Quezon City, and supervised by their Multimedia adviser, Roderick Cuevas. The director is Bryan Spencer Reyes.

In the cast are Jomarie Corro (Daisy), Pauline del Rosario (Barbara), John Felix Alfonso (James), Francis Factor (The Salesman) and Brendan Mykel Desiderio (Brendan).