ID4 Dean Devlin acquires rights to Transit world sales

Transit, which was submitted as the country’s official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category of next year’s Oscars, is set for international release.

Funfare just got the good news that Dean Devlin, the half-Filipino producer of such Hollywood hits as the Will Smith-starrer Independence Day (ID4) and Godzilla, has just announced that his company, Electric Entertainment, has picked up all worldwide sales rights, excluding the Philippines, to the critically-acclaimed Filipino drama which marks the debut of director Hannah Espia. It’s the first indie movie of Jasmine Curtis-Smith who won Best Supporting Actress at the recent Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

The Tagalog and Hebrew-language film, which depicts the plight of Filipino immigrants in Israel, was written by Espia and Giancarlo Abrahan, with associate producer Liza Araneta Marcos and produced by Ernest Escaler and Paul Soriano. Other members of the cast are Irma Adlawan, Ping Medina, Mercedes Cabral, Jasmine and Marc Justine Alvarez. 

Recognized with a Special Mention at the just-concluded 18th Busan International Film Festival, Transit is competing at the Hong Kong Asian Filmfest and at the Tokyo FILMEX Festival next month, and showing at the India (GOA) International Film Festival also next month and at the Jewish Film Festival in December.  

Transit explores the intersecting stories of Filipinos in Tel Aviv when the threat of a law deporting the children of migrant workers looms over their precarious lives. Janet (Adlawan), a domestic worker on an expired visa, struggles to hide her half-Israeli daughter Yael (Jasmine), a rebellious teenager caught up in a juvenile romance. Most endangered in the situation is Janet’s four-year-old nephew Joshua (Alvarez) whom Janet and Yael watch over because the boy’s father, Moises (Medina), must work out of town during the week as a caregiver. Joshua is most vulnerable to the deportation law because he is under the age of five and therefore must be kept hidden otherwise he risks being seen by the immigration authorities who regularly patrol the neighborhood.  The film also explores the life of a young lady, Tina (Cabral), who arrives to start a new life in Israel.

Said Devlin, “As someone who is both Filipino and Jewish, I was particularly moved by this film, though the themes of this film are truly universal and can be applied to almost every culture in the industrial world. The filmmakers have taken a complex subject and have created an incredibly moving and touching story. I could not be more proud to be associated with this project and look forward to doing whatever I can to get this film seen around the globe.”

“We couldn’t be happier to be working with a filmmaker of Dean’s caliber and are very excited to see our film reach an international audience through his Electric Entertainment,” said Soriano, producer of the movie.

Devlin’s sales outfit, headed by Sonia Mehandjiyska, recently launched with The Wannabe, a feature to be executive produced by Devlin, Martin Scorsese and Traction Media (Short Term 12); and starring Patricia Arquette (Stigmata, True Romance, Boardwalk Empire), Vincent Piazza (Jersey Boys, Boardwalk Empire), and Michael Imperioli (Oldboy, The Sopranos).

Devlin is currently in pre-production on his feature directorial debut, Geostorm, which he is producing with Skydance Pictures’ David Ellison and Dana Goldberg, and Electric’s Roskin and Olschan.

The Year of Snake is showbiz split-up year

As of recent count, 12 showbiz couples have broken up since the start of 2013, Year of the Snake, and the year isn’t over yet!

Let’s call the (dis)honor roll (at no particular order of their break-up):

• Claudine Barretto and Raymart Santiago

• Cesar Montano and Sunshine Cruz

• Derek Ramsay and Cristine Reyes

• Billy Crawford and Nikki Gil

• Venus Raj and Andrei Felix

• Megan Young and Mikael Daez (daw!)

• Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson

• Christian Bautista and Carla Dunareanu

• Paulo Avelino and LJ Reyes

• Jennylyn Mercado and Luis Manzano

• Phil Younghusband and Angel Locsin

• Joyce Ching and Kristoffer Martin

Ask their managers and they will tell you that they are clueless. They are supposed to be the first but are they the last to know, learning about their wards’ break-up only from the media? Or are they pretending not to know?

In the case of Jennylyn and Luis, did you know that Luis’ mom, Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos, was among the last to know? And to think that she was, as in the case of Luis’ other (former) girlfriends, all praises for Jennylyn who has become a virtual member of Luis’ family.

Asked for her comment, Vilma texted Funfare: “I’m not meddling. I just ask Lucky (Luis) if he’s ok and remind him to always count his blessings. Pag ok siya, ok na ako!! Praying na lang that both of them, Lucky and Jen, will be ok in spite of the situation.”

What about Luis’s dad Edu Manzano?

According to June Torrejon-Rufino, manager of the father and son, “Unless Luis opens up to him, Edu doesn’t meddle in his son’s private life.”

A Funfare source said that Jennylyn is “not okay,” sometimes crying on the shoulders of her StarStruck friends and sometimes laughing as if she’s not hurting. Ha? Easy glum, easy glow?

Incidentally, another source said that the actress in one of the broken-up couples (oops! no clue now) is suspecting that her “ex” could be gay because, she lamented, he never touched her during their time together. Oh well, maybe he was just respecting her.

Juicy items from the ‘beauty front’:

From Funfare’s “beauty experts” Felix Manuel, Joey Cezeare, Gery Yumping and Francis Calubaquib:

Half-Pinay New Zealander Diana Mackey is representing the Philippines in the Supermodel International 2013 Pageant in Bangkok on Nov. 2.

Diana, a 15-year-old model and AB Communication student of the Far Eastern University will compete with 30 gorgeous women from around the world.

A native of Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Diana is the only daughter of Rowena Cariaga and Harry Mackey of New Zealand. Diana started her ballet lessons at an early age and has performed several ballet recitals until she was 12. 

A well-traveled lady, she has visited Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Brunei and New Zealand. Though she was fascinated by the diversity and uniqueness of the culture and tradition of these countries, she remains a Filipina at heart. That is why when the opportunity came to represent the Philippines in an international competition, Diana readily agreed.

Diana will leave tomorrow for the various pre-pageant activities leading to the grand finals.

”I need all your support through prayers and popular votes through the social media, this is my own little way of bringing back hope and inspiration to our kababayan after a series of natural calamities that hit us. I believe that great things will come and our winning streak will continue,” she told us in an exclusive interview during her send-off presscon.

From Funfare’s “other beauty expert” Celso de Guzman Caparas:

2013 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Ariella Arida arrived in Moscow Tuesday night safe and sound. She was extremely happy to see flag-bearing Filipinos at the airport who patiently waited for her arrival. They presented her with a bouquet. In her tweets, Ariella said, “I’m kilig. Two degrees Celsius here. My driver was so kind. He gave me dark chocolate and coffee.”

After resting for a few hours, Ariella completed her registration, had her fittings and photo shoots. She’s sharing a room with Miss Canada Riza Santos, a full-blooded Pinay but was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. She once pursued a showbiz career here. Her father hails from Bulacan and her mother from Bataan.

Also from Celso: 2013 Miss World Megan Young was chosen along with 99 other women from different countries to take part in a live debate on Oct. 25 (tomorrow) by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to be held at the BBC  Radio Theater Broadcasting House in London. This is part of the BBC series 100 Women Season which focuses on the challenges, risks and opportunities that women encounter in the 21st century.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)