Luck has come our way as the Philippines through Cignal Entertainment's movies bag awards at the recent 19th Asian Film Festival in Italy. This is a big win not just for the production of two pieces "Big Night!" and "Resbak" (english title Payback). This happeened last April 7 to 13 this year at Farnese Arthouse in Rome and undoubtedly, has brought honor once again to the country in this Asian exhibition featuring 30 different entries from countries like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, china, Taiwan and Thailand.
"Resbak" director Brillante Mendoza was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Roma Lazio Film Commision. Actors Christian Bables (which did Big Night) and Vince Rillon (from Payback) on the other hand won Best Actor for their respective films that are produced by Cignal Entertainment. News of having these in streaming platforms soon are in the works so that more people would be able to watch it. Payback will be released in the Philippines soon.
For those who don't know, "Big Night!" was previously shown in Metro Manila Film Festival in 2021. This is directed by Jun Lana and had stellar reviews, also won several awards including Best Actor, Supporting Actor, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Musical Score, Best Picture and the Gender Sensitivity Award (which was fitting!).
This is a part of what Cignal Entertainment is pushing for. They want to champion fresh, socially relevant and world appealing films and show them to a greater audience. They are thankful for the awards they won in this festival and the ones bestowed to the people who are in these films.
You may visit their official website at www.asianfilmfestival.info for more information about the films and the awards they've given to different films over the years. Congratulations Cignal Entertainment!
It’s been a while since Direk Jun Lana came out with a film but this one produced by Cignal Entertainment, IdeaFirst Company, October Train Films and Quantum Films would certainly ruffle feathers as the topic delves on the governments drug war that cost so many lives. It would be interesting to see how they would be able to tell a story about it especially when this topic in particular is very pointed politically. Watched it a few days ago in Gateway Mall as part of the press screening, you could say it’s a dark dramedy. With award winning actor Christian Bables on the lead role, it made the gay spin effective; and put the point across without people realizing how serious this is. This is also their official entry for this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.
BIG NIGHT usually is coined from the events that gay bars in this part of the world do when they let it all out. It’s the evening where they make all the grand production numbers and let hell hath fury when it comes to adult entertainment/male pageants. This is where Christian’s character “Dharna” also works as his partner Zeus played by Nico Antonio joins these pageants as he dreams to win some day. Dharna also works in the beauty industry (owns a shack salon) but has unfortunately found himself reported in a "watch list". That entails being hunted down or killed, even if he isn’t involved in it. This starts the quest to clear his name, a chase that might prove lethal as he's seen a couple downed just because they're on it. He needed to hurry though because chances are, he could be next. Here, he hopes to live another day. The story also involves a lot of interesting characters, an ensemble of actors with the likes of Eugene Domingo, Gina Alajar, Ms. Janice de Belen, Ricky Davao, Ms. Gina Pareño, Nico Antonio, Allan Paule, Soliman Cruz, Martin del Rosario, Awra Briguela, my friend VJ Mendoza, Cedrick Juan, Ogie Diaz, Ms. Sue Prado. and best actor John Arcilla.
Christian says “When I watched this, I thought it wasn’t me. The work we do with the director and co actors are different, it changes you to become the other person, and I think that’s why this is good! I had a hard time doing the ambulance scene physically, I think I lost 5 pounds (he kids). If I win awards for this I’d gladly accept it, but whatever happens I’m already happy that you didn’t see me as Christian but just Dharna on screen.”
Direk Jun Lana took us on a ride, bringing real scenes of poverty, family, religion, community, corruption, society and heartbreak. This movie made me feel very sad, to see how things could be, to make something so evil become just a norm. He put it out there for us to discuss, the interpretation is left to the ones who watches it. The musical scoring in different scenes will haunt you a bit, effective and makes you feel like it was you involved in the scene. John Arcilla’s scenes is on another dimension, it was crazy and unusual, and Christian’s reaction to that was gold (you'll know more about it if you watch the movie!).
Miss Janice adds “People need to see other people go out in the streets, in malls and watch movies again. It’s okay but of course with proper protocols, we need to learn to live with this and try to live normally.”
Perci Intalan, Atty. Joji Alonzo, Isabelle Santillan was also in the screening. Miss Isabelle says “We’re very excited about the film because this is the first time Cignal is sending an entry for the MMFF.”
Atty Joji says “Jun and Perci asked me to co produce this and I hope you like this, if not please be kind.” she jokes.
Perci says “Thank you to everyone, to our partners, this was a passion project in 2019 and we were able to produce it during lockdown. Please, spread the word!”
Here are excerpts of the interview we had with them right after the screening, enjoy!
BIG NIGHT is part of the Metro Manila Film Festival, and according to Direk Jun there will be a sequel. I’d love to see that, because this movie just begs for more. It’s organic, funny, and you get what they’re doing the scenes itself because it's so relatable, it talks about what is happening in current Philippine society. I remember Direk Jun mentioned that this may not be fully understood by foreign audiences because this was made for FILIPINOS. Also, there would be several scenes that would be Easter egg moments for you, and they left it to your interpretation. I'd love to see this again during MMFF and see how audiences would react to it. I sincerely loved how they presented the message, and I won't expect less because this is a Jun Lana film. It makes you want to talk about it, and it makes you think.
It's
a movie about family, like in the Philippines, we see people do fiestas
like crazy. Even without enough money, we see em borrow money just so
we could see a full table and afford to feed guests in the hopes they
wouldn't be headlines of chismosas telling other people you were a
horrible host the next day.
Same goes for weddings, which the Fabulous Filipino Brothers Dayo,
David, Duke and Danny Boy's story start. Solenn Heussaff looked
gorgeous on this film, she plays a lawyer, a lost love that Duke finally
found and reconnected with. Cameos from Tirso Cruz III, and appearances personifying lovers and crazy fights will be included so make sure to pay attention
to the script. You will also see spaghetti, lumpia, turon, kutsinta and
siopao in different ways. In a nutshell, this is movie is problematic on
so many levels, cute at times, funny, endearing, romantic, Filipino
with lots of heart.
This is the directorial debut of Dante Basco and he says "You know it's perfect to do this with my brothers and sister. It became a family affair, although fictional, there's homage to the past. We started as actors and I've seen them their whole careers, every small role they played, I've been there as a brother and as a fan. To direct them in this movie, it has led us to make this movie. Worldwide, we're in a pioneering time in Asian media. We're in the height of our profile here in Hollywood and people are looking for Asian stories. There's so much great story telling that is going on, we're part of that. It's something we hoped that would happen, I don't know, it's a whole nother thing. Solenn is beautiful, charming, between action and cut, you just had to look at her and talk. We got to know each other a bit, to fall in love with her was not hard to do. It's one of the perks of the job, she's incredibly professional. She was definitely the first pick, we discussed a few options, but she was on top of the list. It's very important that Filipinos watch this film, I made it for us for a reason. There's so many years in my career that I played scenes, as an actor I am blessed with rich culture, be a chameleon, be connected, I'm Filipino and proud of it, it's time to represent as Filipinos and not as different cultures, it's personal to me, to my family, my community, places where I'm from. I hope everyone else can see themselves in us, that's what I hope. I wanna bring some more of the Philippines actors and come here, there's so many great ones I wanna work with in the Philippines."
Ms. Isabel Santillan of Cignal Entertainment says "We're open for pitches from our Kababayan abroad. They don't have to fly here, we have a lot of need in content and they can do it virtually."
Jeff Remigio FVP of TV5 International says "The movie depicts the nature of Filipinos, the best traits, character, we're fun loving, we're resilient and courageous. It's very important for all of us, it shows our struggles, we reflect, we're doing okay as far as Asian community is concerned. There's a lot of stories in our past lives, we've done happy and failed marriages, plight of OFW's, hardships of the Filipino, but there's still so many stories to tell, we're writing much of it everyday. We're going to look at our story, break barriers like what Korea did it. For now, we want people to watch it on Cignal Pay Per View, for now we want to concentrate on that."
It's
a Filipino family's story, go watch it on Cignal Pay Per View and just look for the
title The Fabulous Filipino Brothers. Pretty good stuff!
