Pinoy filmmaker observes the making of Hollywood indie film

HONG KONG – For award-winning Pinoy filmmaker Sean Lim, directing wasn’t an unchartered territory until he set foot into Bigfoot Entertainment’s feature film set of Irreversi, currently wrapping up its 10-week production in Hong Kong.

Irreversi is a powerful drama about an overnight millionaire who plots his beautiful wife’s perfect murder. The film started principal photography end of March and stars Mei Melançon (X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Deadwood and CSI), Ian Bohen (Marigold, Cold Case and JAG), Kenny Doughty (Elizabeth, Titus, Crush, The Aryan Couple) and Estella Warren (Kangaroo Jack, Driven, Planet of the Apes).

Bigfoot Entertainment, together with the International Academy of Film & Television (IAFT), developed a one-week hands-on workshop that gave film students from tertiary institutions access to a professional working feature film set, enabling them to gain valuable hands-on experience in fields relevant to their discipline of study.

Sean, a 22-year-old graduate of De La Salle College and currently a music video and TV commercial director in Manila, spent 10 days on the set with various department heads to immerse himself in a real life production of an international feature film by Bigfoot Entertainment, Irreversi.

Irreversi is directed by German-born Michael Gleissner, who also wrote the screenplay and conceptualized the dual language film. He was also the executive producer on Bigfoot-funded films like 3 Needles (Lucy Liu), East Broadway (Margaret Cho), Shanghai Kiss (Kelly Hu) and the recent The Curiosity of Chance (Tad Hilgenbrinck).

This is Sean’s first foray into feature film. "It is like my "Big Foot step towards realizing my dreams. After I joined the workshop, I became more confident in myself as a young director. I have been working on music videos and Audio Visual Presentations but my learning process doesn’t end there. I make it a point to venture into different aspects of filmmaking and I gained all of that in the IAFT workshop. I worked on cinematography, directing, producing, lighting, sound engineering… I learned how they deal with situations when unexpected matter arises, how they organize things on set, how to treat people…" Sean explains.

Gleissner was so impressed with his progress that he invited Sean to co-direct the feature theme song from Irreversi’s original soundtrack, The Stuff I’m Made Of.

"We are very pleased to see how Sean has progressed within a matter of days through this program. Hopefully, it is as rewarding an experience for our students as it has been for us," says Kacy Andrews, CEO of Bigfoot Entertainment and producer of Irreversi. Kacy is also the president at the International Academy of Film and Television.

Sean adds, "Being in a real set makes learning more effective than reading books. With the hands-on workshop, it’s like a responsibility which leaves me with no choice but to make the best of what I can. The best part was the Hollywood and international team of cast and crew were always there to answer all my questions and support me."

Sean is no stranger in the entertainment arena. He is a recording artist under Synergy Music (which introduced the hits Basta Sabihin Mo Lang by Vehnee Saturno and Wonder Girl by Trina Belamide). He has modeled for numerous print and TV commercials like Jack and Jill, Nova, Globe and Smart, BPI, Wrangler, Bench etc. He is also director/producer for corporate AVPs, TVCs and music videos for local talents like Anna Fegi, Intensity, The Empire, Nina, Nyoy Volante and Mannos to name a few. He teaches Multimedia Media Arts at Asia Pacific College.

Sean is back in Manila working on his independent sci-fi action movie, Xenoa.