Morgan Freeman gives Jiro the thumbs up

After opening to critical acclaim early this year, Maryo J. de los Reyes’ Magnifico continues to reap accolades, this time in film festivals abroad.

Produced by Violett Films, the first stop of Magnifico was at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival at the Czech Republic last July where it was fielded among 240 entries and ended up being chosen as one of the Top 15.

For this festival, Violett Films producer Madame Violet Sevilla herself accompanied Magnifico, along with the star of the film, Jiro Manio and Madame Violet’s daughter, Girlie Sevilla, who is also part of the movie (as Ising, the love interest of Danilo Barrios).

The members of this delegation saw for themselves the importance given by the host country to Magnifico and, yes, to the Philippines. While touring the place, they saw standing in the middle of the town the billboard of Magnifico with the Philippine flag flying beside it. Oh how proud they felt – particularly Jiro, who as always wore a Barong Tagalog.

After the screening of Magnifico (this was on July 7), everyone gave the film a standing ovation. Jiro was a hit–and so was Isabella de Leon. Isabella, who plays a victim of cerebral palsy in the movie, impressed the Czech audience to the point that they kept asking if she was really afflicted with such a disorder. Their favorite scene there, according to Girlie Sevilla, was this poignant, yet funny part where Jiro was getting the measurements of his grandmother (Gloria Romero) so that he may be able to make her a coffin – never mind the fact that she was still breathing and very much alive.

But the crowning moment for the delegation was when Morgan Freeman approached Jiro and gave the boy the thumbs up–a clear indication that even this great Hollywood actor was impressed with the performance of this child actor from the Philippines.

After Czechoslovakia, Magnifico (along with Star Cinema’s Dekada) next went to the Toronto Film Festival, where entries are put up for exhibition. Only Magnifico’s director, Maryo J. de los Reyes went to that one.

Magnifico’s two other stops were at the film festivals in Fukuoka and in Korea where it was again put up for exhibition.

But in the film festival in Hawaii recently, Magnifico – along with Noon at Ngayon and Dekada – once more went into competition. Out of 100 entries, Magnifico ended up in the Top 5 and was acclaimed as the most popular. It was Gloria Romero who was a hit there this time.

Magnifico should still be playing in Honolulu theaters by this time. (Its regular run was supposed to have started last Nov. 21.) Originally, Magnifico was scheduled to open in Hawaii in February 2004 yet. But because of the Hawaiian public’s warm reception to the movie during the film festival, its playdate had to be advanced in the theaters there.

Next year, the film will participate in more film festivals abroad – in Palm Springs, Bangkok, Venice, New Delhi, New York and Saipan.

In the local awards derbies next year, Magnifico will surely be a frontrunner for Best Picture and in the various acting categories.

Magnifico was produced by Madame Violet Sevilla to the tune of P25-M which would have been enough to produce three movies. Although the huge production cost of Magnifico didn’t exactly bring Madame Violet to the poorhouse, the amount she spent on it – by any kind of mathematics – would be quite diffucult to recover.

But she’s not about to give up. At the moment, she plans to produce another quality movie to be directed either by Chito Roño or Maryo de los Reyes. She also wants to get the service of Laurice Guillen because she liked Tanging Yaman.

Well-loved by industry members because of her kindness, generosity and, yes, professionalism, Madame Violet insists she will not stop until she has produced a great Filipino movie that we will be proud of – especially abroad.