Veteran actors in Thelma laud its vision, visuals

MANILA, Philippines - Tetchie Agbayani and John Arcilla are proud to play important roles in Thelma, an indie movie that “balances the landscape” at a time when others offer dark themes.

“It tells you to rise above your situation, to stand up when you fall down. It aims to remind, if not enlighten people, that life can be good if we choose it to be so and if we act on that choice,” said Agbayani.

Thelma tells the story of a barrio girl who became a professional runner to turn the lives of her loved ones around. The tagline of the movie is “Some people run away from their problems, she ran to fix them.”

“Running is a good metaphor of our journey in life,” added Arcilla. “Sometimes we’re ahead, sometimes we’re behind. But wherever you are, fasten your eyes on the finish line and keep moving towards it.”

The two thespians are all praises for Maja Salvador who plays the lead role. They say that the young actress worked herself to the bone to perfect her portrayal, including training as real runners do under renowned Philippine Track and Field champ, Elma Muros.

Arcilla and Agbayani play Thelma’s parents, whose back stories factor into the motivations and eventual success of their daughter. Though they’ve played such roles many times over in the past, the two said that shooting the movie continuously for several days straight redounded to the kind of chemistry they built and manifested.

“It was one time, big time shooting in Ilocos and so for several days, we were thinking, breathing, eating, moving in character. We had no distractions and I believe it shows in the cohesiveness of the performance,” Arcilla said.

Agbayani, on the other hand, thinks Thelma is a study in consistency between intention and execution. She said that director Paul Soriano knew what he wanted to do and that he came to the set not just with an idea of how he wanted each scene to come out, but sure of how to get the look to the last detail. “Walang tsamba-tsamba,” is how Arcilla puts it.

They hope moviegoers will appreciate the visual feast that Thelma offers. Shot up north, the film canvasses the beauty of Laoag, Batac, Fortuna, Curimao and the popular windmills in Bangui. “And yet it’s not all glossy but realistic shots, too. Like, if the characters were sweaty and it’s but natural that their faces look oily, direk Paul let it be,” Agbayani said.

Apart from the obvious lessons, Arcilla said his role would remind parents to encourage their children in what they aspire to do and not “kill” their dreams just because it’s not what they want for them.

As for Agbayani’s take on the matter: “You can’t control everything in life, but you have a say on your attitude and your standards.” 

Thelma is the maiden offering of Time Horizon Productions, in cooperation with Abracadabra Productions and Underground Logic.

Distributed by Star Cinema, Thelma also stars Eliza Pineda, Sue Prado, Jason Abalos, Manel Sevidal and RJ Salvador. It has been invited to participate in the Hawaii Film Festival on Oct. 15 to 22.