2005: Banner year of digital films

Don’t look now, but digital films might just help prop up the movie industry which is now only slowly but surely springing from a prolonged slump, a sorry situation caused no doubt by the overall not-so-optimistic economic outlook not only in the country or the Asian region but in various parts of the world as well.

So, pressed for cash, "indie" producers have been coming up with digital films which are affordable and easy to produce (read: not painful to the pocket). For a shoestring budget of anywhere between P500,000 and P l million, a producer can whip up a digital film in record time (two weeks or longer), reminiscent of Mother Lily’s pito-pito projects, most of which turned out to be quality films, such as Mario O’Hara’s Babae sa Bubungang Lata, Lav Diaz’s Ang Kriminal ng Bo. Concepcion and Jeffrey Jeturian’s Sana Pagibig Na.

Thus far, digital films have been turning heads in international film festivals and winning awards in the process, like the feat of Brillante Mendoza’s Masahista (The Masseur, with Coco Martin in the title role) and Aureaus Solito’s Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros).

Masahista won the Golden Leopard Award at the Locarno (Switzerland) Video Competition and has been shown in 10 other international filmfests, with more invitations pouring in, including those from Hong Kong, Estonia, Lisbon, Istanbul, UK, Australia and Buenos Aires. Masahista will also open in the US in the spring of 2006, to be distributed by Picture This Entertainment.

Maximo Oliveros has won two international awards – the Golden Zenith at the Montreal First Film Competition and Best Film at the Toronto Imaginative Filmfest.

You see, 2005 is turning out to be a banner year for digital films. (Recently shown in commercial theaters was another digital film, Pusang Gala, directed by Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil.)

Another digital film director, Crisaldo Pablo, has just come up with his third digital film, following Duda and Bathhouse, which both got good reviews and a fairly good audience when they were shown in a few theaters at Robinsons Galleria.

Pablo’s third project is called Bilog (Circles), which was shot in and around the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City, a.k.a. Elliptical Circle. Set at the same time that The Pope died, the food poisoning of students was headline news and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo apologized to the nation ("I’m sorry," you know), Bilog chronicles the activities of people, most of them sad and lonely, whose common escape is the Quezon Memorial Circle. Movie writer Archie de Calma plays the main character, a peddler of everything and a manipulator of his friends and acquaintances.

"Duda was easy to shoot because the whole story happens in an apartment," said Pablo. "Bathhouse took one month and a half to shoot. But the shoot for Bilog lasted for more than two months because it’s more difficult to make than the other two. There are many characters in the story. We also had to time the shooting of some scenes when there were not many people around, like the scene where Reiven Bulado (who plays Cesar Montano’s brother in Panaghoy sa Suba) runs naked around the Elliptical Circle. He plays an AIDS patient."

Meanwhile, let’s meet the three newcomers who play vital roles in Bilog (showing in commercial theaters starting on Nov. 30):

•Craig Alcantara, 21, plays Justin, a call-center worker who has the nasty habit of playing with himself while on duty. Justin hangs around the Elliptical Circle in his spare time, simply to observe people. A Richard Gere lookalike, Craig was first seen in the Regal movie Happily Ever After. He starred in the unreleased indie digital film 69 before he shot Bilog.

A native of Negros Oriental, Craig is a graduate of Thames Business School (where Joyce Jimenez was his schoolmate). Four years ago, his female cousin invited him to attend a workshop at the ABS-CBN’s Talent Center. "For want of anything to do," said Craig (5’8" and 135 lbs.), "I went with her. I enjoy it."

Craig used to be a co-host of the IBC 13 noontime show Chowtime Na! and is the image model of Jocks Shirt.

• Xeno Alejandro, 22, plays an activist from the province who goes to Manila to look for his activist-girlfriend. Learning that his girlfriend is dead, he gets into an affair with a gay he meets at the Elliptical Circle.

Before Bilog, Xeno, who hails from Pampanga, worked as a messenger and was once one of the Calendar Boys. He has "bit parts" in the Lucky Me and Touch Mobile commercials.

"Bilog is my first movie and I hope it won’t be the last," said Xeno who, like Craig and the other stars of Bilog, attended an acting workshop conducted by Grupong Sinehan (the guys behind Bilog).

"I’m willing to do anything for a role. That’s what an actror is for, di ba?"

•Apollo Jones, 24, plays a medical intern member of an NGO who falls in love with another doctor he meets at the Elliptical Circle. A native of South Cotabato, Apollo spent part of his childhood and teenage years in the Middle East, England and Australia.

"I was seven years old when my mom, a nurse, worked in the Middle East," said Apollo whose mother was separated from his father. "There, she remarried and we moved to England. Then, we moved to Sydney and finally settled down in Adelaide."

Apollo came home to apply for membership in the RP football team for the SEA Games but, at 24, he said, "I was found to be too old."

Before he knew it, he landed in showbiz. He hosts a segment on Studio 23’s Wazzup, Wazzup that spoofs Pinoy Big Brother.

"No," he said, "I don’t have any nude scenes in Bilog, although I don’t mind doing it."

That’s the clincher.

Said direk Crisaldo Pablo, "The nice thing about my actors is that they don’t have qualms about nudity. They are real artists, ready to do whatever their roles call for."

Fr. Corsie’s healing sked

Here is Fr. Corsie Legaspi’s healing schedule for November and December:

• Nov. 28, Monday, 1 to 7 p.m., Prayer and Healing Rally at the Pasay West High School Gymnasium, F.B. Harrison (behind Pasay City Hall), Pasay City.

• Dec. 1, Thursday, 1 to 5 p.m., healing session at the Coming Home Retreat and Meditation Center, Binakayan, Cavite.

• Dec. 3, Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m., healing session at the Coming Home Retreat and Meditation Center, Binakayan, Cavite.

•Dec. 6 to 9, healing sessions in Guam.

• Dec. 12, Monday, 1 to 5 p.m., healing session at Jesus, Lamb of God Parish, Pulong Masle, Guagua, Pampanga.

(For details, call 046-434-8759 or 046-878-0069 and look for Ronnel, 1 to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday.)

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])