"It may not be as prestigious as Cannes but it's a large festival when it comes to submissions," said Archie del Mundo, writer of Maestra, a film directed by Lemuel Lorca. The film won two accolades in the Five Continents International Film Festival 2017, a Venezuelan online film festival, last November 2. These are for the categories of Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Anna Luna).
Produced by Dr. Carl Balita, Maestra is a story of 3 teachers, a poor dreamer who, amidst adversity, graduated as a cum laude and became a topnotcher in the licensure exam for teachers, an Aeta teacher who took the board exam more than 20 times before becoming a professional teacher and a veteran educator who never let hindrances stop her from teaching her students.
Lemuel Lorca's 7th film, Maestra, will pay tribute to educators whose life-long struggle is highlighted by their unwavering commitment to their profession. Primarily based on a viral post on Facebook about Iah Seraspi - a fisherman's daughter from Romblon who topped the board exams for teachers, the film will also feature inspiring real-life stories of Gennie Panguelo, an Aeta-Ilocana who taught in a school situated on top of Pinatubo Valley for more than 25 years before passing the board after more than 20 retakes; and Espie Bautista, a former high school principal, a college dean, and an inspirational speaker who is now more than 80 years old and even past beyond her years, still refuses to retire from teaching. Lorca said this is his most important film to date. His independent features exhibited locally and internaitonally are as follows: Ned's Project, Intoy Syokoy, Water Lemon, Echorsis, and Mauban: Ang Resiko).
Gawad Urian Best Actress awardee Angeli Bayani (Melancholia, Norte, The End of History, Iloilo) portrays the role of Panguelo by religiously learning the Mag-Anchi Ayta Language. Seraspi, who is now working as a Board Reviewer herself, was present the entire time while Cinema One Originals Best Supporting Actress Anna Luna portrayed her character. Veteran actress and Queen of Visayan Movies Gloria Sevilla essays her real-life counterpart, Ma'am Espie, as a tireless teacher cum impromptu poetess. Bautista can marvelously compose and deliver poems on the spot as part of he rinspirational talks.
The film also includes a stalwart of acting luminaries such as Lou Veloso, Cinema One Originals Best Actor Bong Cabrera, Lui Manansala, William Martinez, Yayo Aguila, Star Orjaliza, and Karl Medina. Former child star Paul Salas plays Anna Luna's love interest.
The said film premiered last August 7 at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and is continuously shown in the CBRC branches nationwide and recognized by other international film festivals such as the Warsaw Avenue Film Festival in Cincinatti, FACINE Festival in San Francisco and the Sydney World Film Festival.
It was also part of Warsaw Ave. Film Festival Cincinatti, FACINE International San Francisco, and Sydney World Film Festival Sydney. The film is set to have screenings across the country starting this December 6, 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment