WILL John Lloyd Cruz’s surprise appearance in the period drama "Culion" boost the film’s chances to clinch one of the remaining four slots in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival?
That’s what the film’s director Alvin Yapan, scriptwriter Ricky Lee and producer Shandi Bacolod are all hoping for, as they ushered the release of teaser trailer and ad campaign for Culion with a grand media event Monday night at Bar One of Holiday Inn Manila Galleria.
As the ecstatic cast and crew and members of the press watched the much-anticipated teaser trailer, reactions of oohs and ahhs were heard all over the packed room when John Lloyd’s close-up image popped up in the last few seconds of the trailer, confirming rumors that the versatile actor, in showbiz hiatus for the last two years, is finally making a comeback.
It was indeed a “pasabog” as what movie scribes called it, with Culion managing to lure a “superstar on leave” back to the silver screen. And it’s not even a major role.
“But the character is very important,” assured Shandi. “We cannot say what the role is about but it’s connected to the character of Meryl Soriano,” one of three lead characters facing life sentence imposed by leprosy pre World War II.
Shandi said it wasn’t too hard to convince John Lloyd to be part of Culion since he previously produced a short film with the actor that somehow established their friendship. Many of the cast members, including an assistant director, being good friends with John Lloyd, also helped make it happen.
With John Lloyd in an epic drama penned by the country’s most prolific and respected scriptwriter about the forgotten souls in a leprosarium in Palawan and starring three of the country’s most decorated young female actors -- Iza Calzado, Meryll Soriano and Jasmine Curtis-Smith, how can MMFF ignore Culion?
With the majestic cinematography of Neil Daza, remarkable direction of Alvin Yapan and the project’s ambition to help break the social stigma affixed to Culion for ages and promote the paradise island as a premier tourist destination like its neighboring Coron and El Nido, how can MMFF not give Culion a shot in the Magic 8 for the December 2019 festival?
MMFF is expected to announce the remaining four films on October 8. The first four entries that made it to the list were already announced in July. They are Miracle in Cell #7, a family drama with Aga Muhlach and Nadine Lustre; The comedy Mission Unstopabol: The Don Identity with Vic Sotto and Maine Mendoza; Momalland, a fantasy with Vice Ganda and Anne Curtis; and Sunod, a horror starring Carmina Villaroel and Mylene Dizon (which replaced Kampon of Kris Aquino and Derek Ramsay).
Early words say Culion could become one of the most important films of the year, if not this generation. Apart from its compelling story and powerful social statement, it reportedly has the charm of another Ricky Lee opus, Himala, the Nora Aunor starrer that continues to receive raves abroad. In fact, early scenes in Culion pay homage to Himala, according to Alvin Yapan, a big fan of the Ishmael Bernal-megged classic.
Culion has a powerhouse supporting cast led by Joem Bascon, Suzette Ranillo, Lee O’Brian, Simon Ibarra, Joel Saracho, and introducing child actor Earl Andrew Figueroa.
It centers on the lives of three leper patients in the 1940s, (Anna, Doris and Ditas) who live in Culion when no cure for leprosy has yet been discovered. Patients live and die there, forgotten by their loved ones, thus it is known as the Land of the Living Dead. Anna never loses hope that a cure will be found one day even when her baby is taken away from her. Doris, meanwhile, holds on to the myth that a diwata will heal the place, while Ditas keeps trying to take her own life, helpless against the onslaught of memories from the outside world.
Together, the three friends try to negotiate a life of stigma that seesaws between hope and despair. In the end, they prove that neither disease nor death can erase their humanity and their capacity to endure.
“We are very confident that Culion’s story, direction, acting and cinematography is going to do justice to the hype,” said executive producer Gillie Sing. “Join us in our prayer that our film make it to the MMFF.”
“This is a story that shouldn’t be forgotten,” said producer Shandi Bacolod. “This is a story that should be told and retold. More than a tragedy, Culion is a story of human spirit, resilience and triumph."
Ricky Lee, a certified metro filmfest baby with the bulk of his trophies coming from the MMFF for films like Himala, Moral and Haplos, which competed all in one single year, said MMFF is still the best venue to help a movie get noticed quickly by the viewing public.
“Sana yung Culion magkaroon maski konti man lang ng longevity ng Himala,” Ricky Lee stated. “I was so lucky to have written a movie like Himala in 1982 that continues to answer the many social issues we have even today. When I recently revisited Himala as a musical, I realized halos lahat ng issues ng Himala ay relevant pa rin sa panahon natin ngayon. I’m so lucky to have written a project na nabuhay ng napakahabang panahon.”
“We did everything we can to make Culion the best that it can be,” added Ricky, “and we will do our best to reach a wider audience and tell the many untold stories of those who suffered and died of loneliness in Culion.”