PEP: '100' competes in Marrakesh film fest

Independent film 100 continues to get recognitions abroad after winning five major awards in the 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. Recently, the movie bagged the Audience Choice Award in the 13th Pusan International Film Festival in South Korean. This November, it will compete in the Marrakesh Film Festival in Morroco. When they travel to Morroco, the staff of 100 will bring with them the awards that they have received—Best Actress (Mylene Dizon), Best Director and Best Screenplay (Chris Martinez), Best Supporting Actress (Eugene Domingo), and Audience Choice from Cinemalaya and another Audience Choice award from Pusan—to let the Morrocan audience know that this film is really worth watching. First-time movie director Chris is very grateful that people appreaciate their hard work. "Sobrang thankful naman na na-recognize lahat ng hirap namin," said Direk Chris to PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) during the press preview of 100, held last November 6 at My Cinema in Greenbelt, Makati. He even added, "It's a good time to make films now. Independent filmmaking in the Philippines has been recognized by different film festivals around the world. So, parang Philippines is now a hotspot for good films and good stories." In the coming competition, Direk Chris and his staff have high hopes that they will bag another major award in Morroco. When asked what award would he want to take home this time, Direk Chris told PEP, "Sana manalo si Mylene kasi this is the first festival na mayroong Best Actress award. So, I really hope that Mylene gets the award kasi ang galling-galing niya dito. At saka Best Actress natin siya sa Cinemalaya, so sana mag-Best Actress din siya sa Marrakesh." 100 is the directorial debut for Direk Chris. However, he has already proved his talent in writing screenplays of the movies Bridal Shower (2004), Bikini Open (2005), Sukob (2006), and Caregiver (2007). As playwright, he has also won several Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature as well as awards from the the National Commission for Culture and Arts. Also, he has directed the stage adaptation of Temptation Island and Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah. COMMERCIAL RUN. The staff members of 100 were also fortunate to have been given an opportunity to commercially showcase their work to the public. On December 3, the movie will be shown in selected cinemas for its commercial run, which is not very common for those working in the independent filmmaking industry. In fact, despite the success and the awards that the movie has already received, Direk Chris was still nervous about capturing the local market. He admitted to PEP, "This is our commercial run, so I hope that people will watch it and see it. Sa mga hindi pa nakakapanood at sa mga nakapanood na, I really hope they spread the word if they like the film and watched it. It's a limited screening lang in selected theaters pero sana marami pa ring manood." He even gave an assurance to those who plan to watch this film by saying, "Just like in Cinemalaya, we were able to fill up the main theater and even in Korea, we won audience choice also. So, audience choice na siya dito, audience choice pa siya sa Korea, so parang it proves na it's a crowd pleaser." In a separate interview, supporting actress Tessie Tomas was positive that the Filipino viewers will like their movie. In fact, she said, "Confident kami na magugustuhan ng mga Pilipino [ang 100], kung nagustuhan ng mga Koreano, sila [Eugene Domingo and Mylene Dizon] naman ay pupunta sa Marrakesh." In the movie, Tessie plays the mother of Mylene. 100, according to Direk Chris, "It's about a woman who's dying because of cancer and she has one hundred things to do before she dies. Mayroon siyang listahan and the list expands to a hundred until she lets other people know about her condition." Eugene summarized the plot of their movie by saying, "Ito ay istorya ng lahat ng tao kasi lahat naman ng tao mamatay, e. Kung papaano tinatanggap, ano ang ginagawa ng pamilya, ng kaibigan, kapag may mamatay, at ano ang bagong paraan ng pagtanggap. Ito na ba ang kahuli-hulihang pagkakataon para sumaya ka?" DIFFERENT VIEW ON INDEPENDENT FILMS. The actresses of 100 also mentioned that they aim to change the view of Filipinos about independently produced films through this work. In the interview with the three main actress, Eugene told the media, "Alam mo, gusto rin namin ipaliwanag o hikayatin ang mga tao na kapag sinabi na "indie," "indie" [hindi] maintindihan, "indie" [hindi] totoo 'yan." Mylene also added, "At saka "indie" [hindi] kikita, hindi gano'n 'yon." Then, Eugene continued to explain, "Ang "indie" po ay ibig sabihin hindi major studio o kilala nating mga studio. Ito po ay mga pelikulang naiintindihan, huwag po kayong mag-alala, maaaliw po kayo." And to give her point of view, Tessie interrupted to say, "Kasi, hindi ba, talagang nakakatuwa at maipagmamalaki mong Pilipino ka kasi ang napanalo ng 100, e, audience choice. Meaning to say, ito ang ang pinaka-popular film out of 14 international films from all over the world. Pangalawa, tickets daw were sold in the Net in a matter of one minute. So, parang hindi mo malaman kung paano hinigop 'yong mga ticket sa computer." Tessie concluded, "I think this is what's called renaissance. Kumbaga, e, pagbabalik sa enthusiasm sa pelikulang Pilipino lalo na sa daigdig ng indie film. Ang daming bagong filmmakers, ang daming bagong ideas, mga bata na talagang malalakas ang loob na gumawa ng pelikula." 100 will be screened starting December 3, 2008. - Philippine Entertainment Portal