Professional-student actors meet in Senior Year

MANILA, Philippines - The high school film

Senior Year

stars an ensemble cast of professional actors and real students. It is something rarely done in local movies or in movies in general, for that matter.

So Senior Year has recognized faces, namely two-time Cinemalaya Best Actress Ina Feleo, Cinemalaya Best Supporting Actor Arnold Reyes, Cinemalaya Best Supporting Actress LJ Moreno, Urian nominee Che Ramos and FAMAS nominee Dimples Romana. With them are the comedian Ramon Bautista and host/magazine editor RJ Ledesma. Ina, Arnold, RJ and Dimples play the adult counterparts of the students, while Che, Ramon and LJ portray the teachers.

Playing the students are Daniel Clavecilla Medrana, Aaron John Tan Balana, Rosanne de Boda, Franzes Bunda, Mary Amirose Lojo, Daniel Lumain, Celina Penaflorida, Nikita Conwi, Eric Marquez and Sheila Marie Bulanhagui. All, except Daniel who was in Pepe Diokno’s Engkwentro, are making their acting debut on the big screen. True to the concept, they were either in fourth year high school or incoming seniors when the film was shot in a campus in Las Piñas. They were also handpicked by director Jerrold Tarog through auditions.

Senior Year tells the intertwining stories of 10 students at the fictitious St. Frederick’s Academy as they struggle through the final months before graduation. Secrets are unraveled, hearts are broken, disappointment inevitably happens. In the end, the students also discover that they need to throw their childish ways in exchange for seeds of maturity.

The merry mix of pros and the newbie actors has resulted in a heartwarming film that “has made the grade,” so to speak. The Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) has given Senior Year an A rating. The CEB summation specifically says, “The film boasts of impressive, excellent and repertory performances. The performers are natural, fresh, truthful and honest. Together with the professional actors, the students provide a palpable sense of sense of reality.”

Senior Year, a production of Digitank Studios and Metric Films, opens March 9 in SM Cinemas in Cebu, Davao, North Edsa, Megamall, Mall of Asia, Sta. Mesa, Manila, Fairview, Southmall, Bacoor, Pampanga and Clark.

For details, log on to www.senioryear.digitankstudios.com.