CinemaBravo

The biggest 2023 film of GMA Pictures and GMA Public Affairs, ‘Firefly,’ starring award-winning actress Alessandra De Rossi in her Kapuso comeback, is hopeful for a shot at the four remaining slots of the upcoming annual Metro Manila Film Festival.

During an intimate media conference held in Quezon City last week for their upcoming film, Alessandra sat on a panel with their director Zig Dulay, writer Angeli Atienza, and Senior Vice President for GMA Pictures and concurrent First Vice President of GMA Public Affairs Nessa Valdellon. All of them are optimistic in offering their passion project to a wide audience.

“Yes, sana, kung makapasok. May ano ba diyan, petition?” Alessandra quipped. “Pwede po ba kayong pumirma?”

Set in Metro Manila and Bicol, ‘Firefly’ “follows a young boy’s search for the mythical island of fireflies described in his mother’s bedtime stories. Using the “clues” he believes his mother left behind in an old notebook, the boy makes the long journey to the magical island to wish her back to life.”

Alex, as she is fondly called, related her own experience to that of her son in the film, played by Kapuso child star, Euwenn Mikaell.

“Kahit ano’ng sabihin ng nanay ko [ay totoo]. Kung sabihin niyang, o, may isla sa ganito—lalo na nung bata kami, may mga Dracula do’n sa probinsya namin, maniniwala ka talaga.

“Naniwala nga ako sa Santa Claus e! Tapos, to the point na nahuli ko yung regalo niya na nasa aparador. Sabi ko, ‘Ito yung hiningi ko kay Santa Claus!’ Sabi ko kay Assunta, ‘Hindi kaya si Mommy at si Daddy si Santa Claus?’ Hindi ko pa naisip na niloloko ako ng Mommy ko. Ang iniisip ko, gano’n ka-special yung parents ko para maging Santa Claus sila…

“Parang tama e! Pag sinabi ng mommy mo na pangit yung gupit mo, hindi ka na lalabas… In the end, mother knows best talaga.”

According to their writer Ms. Angeli, she drew inspiration in her first-hand experience as a mother. “Bilang ina, lagi mong iniisip kung ano yung iiwan mo sa mga anak mo, ano yung kakapitan nila kapag wala ka… Di ba, kumakapit sila sa words ng mga magulang? Na-realize ko yon sa anak ko e!

“Naniniwala siya kahit ano’ng sabihin ko. As in, kahit kalokohan… Doon ko na-realize na hindi ako dapat magsabi sa kanya ng mga gano’n. Dapat, something to inspire and arm your children pagka sila na lang…

Referring to the Euwenn’s role in film, Ms. Angeli noted, “Yun yung gagawin ng bata, alone, magta-travel siya, sinusundan pa rin yung words ng nanay niya… Ano yung ibig sabihin ng maging matapang, paano kang sinu-sustain ng love kahit na wala na yung loved ones mo.”

This magic realism drama film also stars Miguel Tanfelix, Ysabel Ortega, Cherry Pie Picache, Epi Quizon, Yayo Aguila, and Max Collins, with the special participation of Kapuso Primetime King Dingdong Dantes.

Direk Zig previously worked with Alessandra in the 2015 critically-acclaimed film Bambanti (Scarecrow), where she also played the role of a mother to a young boy.

This time, he veered away from his usual take in primetime series such as cultural dramas Sahaya and the recent hit Maria Clara at Ibarra.

“Hindi ito katulad ng mga nauna kong pelikula na mga socio-political realism. Ito kasi, hindi siya fantasy, pero magical realism siya,” he mentioned.

The 2016 film Paglipay and the 2017 film Bagahe are two of his more recent works on the big screen.

Last year, his short film Black Rainbow was a crowd favorite at the Cinemalaya 2022 where it won Best Short Film, NETPAC Award, and Best Screenplay for himself.

“[Better] din kasi na… siyempre, pag gagawa ka ng pelikula, gagawin mo nang buong puso… paghihirapan ninyong lahat,” he emphasized. “Tapos, sobrang naniniwala ka doon sa gustong i-share ng pelikula. So, [better] na mas madami yung makapanood…

“Alam naman natin na pag MMFF, maraming talagang nanonood na mga Pinoy… Kailangan nating maengganyo o kaya mahikayat sila na manood.

“Mas pinu-push na sana makapasok kasi mas madaming batang makakapanood, mas madaming Pinoy, mas madaming tao, mas maa-achieve ng pelikula yung purpose niya kung bakit siya ginawa.”

On another note, ‘Firefly’ was supposed to be the opening salvo of GMA Public Affairs in producing motion pictures.

Ms. Nessa enthusiastically remarked, “Yes! But we were waiting to bring it out to a big audience. Kasi it’s a big film. It’s meant to be seen on the big screen. Ang ganda ng pagkaka-shoot ni Neil Daza, yung cinematographer namin dito. We wanted to wait for a possible festival.”

That’s why Rod Marmol’s The Cheating Game, starring Julie Anne San Jose and Rayver Cruz, became their opening salvo. That romantic drama film was released on July 26 in theaters nationwide.

On today’s state of theatrical releases of local films, GMA Pictures looks forward to doing well at the box office.

“Local film offerings haven’t been doing well, the entire 2023, but we think that the upcoming big films—sometimes it’s casting, something it’s a big story,” Ms. Nessa explained.

“So we’re expecting that the Star Cinema would do well,” she added, pointing out Petersen Vargas’ ‘A Very Good Girl,’ starring Kathryn Bernardo and Dolly De Leon.

“And in the next month, there’s a GMA Pictures collab with Cornerstone [Studios] and Myriad [Entertainment]. This is ‘Five Breakups and a Romance’ of Alden Richards and Julia Montes. We’re expecting that to do well.

“We do think all of the entries so far that have big chance of making it sa MMFF, parang ang gaganda. We think [the] audience will come back for Christmas for the festival. We hope they’d be able to watch Firefly at that time. We’ll see!”

While the film is expected to be shown anytime soon, the story of ‘Firefly’ was conceptualized in 2019. Before the pandemic, they had their initial shoots but were halted by the lockdowns. Good enough, they had ample time to prepare for the betterment of the film as they hope to screen it theatrically as a fitting Christmas treat to the Kapuso audiences in the Philippines.

Watch out for GMA Pictures and GMA Public Affairs’ collab project, ‘Firefly,’ coming soon in cinemas nationwide.