Cherie Gil’s memory lives on through her last film Elehiya
It has been three months since we lost the iconic actress Cherie Gil. A blessing came shortly after though as we will be blessed this month with her last big-screen work. Her final film, Elehiya, is included to compete in the Asian New Wave Section of QCinema International Film Festival from Nov. 17 to 26.
We spoke to Loy Arcenas, who is at the helm of the project. He refused to acknowledge at first that this was his dear friend’s final bow in cinema even after she passed on.
“Para sa akin, it is a celebration of her work as an actress. I cannot ask for more as (this was) filmed way before. The construction of the film happened way before we found out that something was wrong (with her),” he said.
Elehiya was shot back in 2018 and is about the happenings in the life of Dr. Celine de Miranda, who deals coincidentally with what we’ve been going through after the loss of Cherie — grieving. Her character is trying to escape the bitter and bad memories of her late husband’s infidelities. To make things more complicated, Dr. De Miranda meets a young man, who will complicate things as there is a possibility of a relationship between them.
For Loy, all sequences shot were like pieces of a puzzle being put together and the outcome had a shift in its storytelling, once it was completed post the lockdowns.
“It’s a journey of a woman, who wants to deal with her loss and it’s brought to life by this magnificent actress. Cherie knew about the shift in the story and she was fine with it,” he said.
It was a challenge for Loy to get back in the saddle to complete Elehiya, but he felt that the film became the perfect homage to his dear beloved Cherie.
“We never talked about it as her last project. So, it took forever because, you know, what happened in the pandemic changed everything. It takes a while to get back to the mood,” he said.
Like many others in the industry, Loy treated Cherie as someone special to him and he shared how meaningful conversations sprang forth from the most mundane of days that Cherie touched and made him reflect deep about life and living.
During the time when Cherie was already battling cancer, they had this conversation. “I was in Europe at that time. The last time I called her, I was in Venice and I knew she lived in Venice for a while because that was where she brought up her family. Sabi ko, ‘Cherie, andito ako sa Venice. Tingnan mo ito?’ I showed her ordinary parts of life (like) iyong nagbubukas na restaurant, then I could see na nagustuhan niya. Nakikita mo nakasampay na damit. Tapos sabi niya, ‘Loy, sama ako.’ When she said that, I knew exactly what she was talking about... She really knew how to enjoy life.”
Besides Cherie’s Elehiya, QCinema International Film Festival’s 10th edition includes films sourced from the most prestigious festivals from all around the world. The two acclaimed European films with Filipino thespians are also at the forefront of the festival. The Palme d’Or-winning class satire, Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness, which stars Dolly de Leon, is the festival’s opener. The closing film is the Venice Film Festival entry, Mihai Mincan’s To The North, starring Soliman Cruz.
The festival, which will start on Nov. 17, features 58 films, including six short film production grantees, with seven sections of full-length films and three shorts programs. It will also have a hybrid program via the In10City screenings, which will be held both in-person and online.
Besides the theatrical screenings for all films at Gateway, Trinoma, Powerplant, Cinema 76 and SM North EDSA, QCinema entries are also going to be shown at Rockwell Powerplant Mall.
For the virtual screening, which is exclusive for QCShorts 2022, QCShorts 2021 and RainbowQC Shorts, the partnership is with Vivamax and it will run from Nov. 22 to 26.
For theatrical screenings, tickets are priced at P300 each, while online tickets are at P299.
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