Paglipad ng Anghel celebrates goodness

MANILA, Philippines -  In Cloudualdo “Doy” del Mundo Jr.’s new film Paglipad ng Anghel, the acclaimed screenwriter and director treads a path few have chosen to take — exploring the core of human goodness. The film, set to premiere this June 12, 7 p.m., at the Cinema 6 of SM Mall of Asia, is part of the weeklong centennial celebration of De La Salle University.

“It is part of DLSU’s advocacy to celebrate and promote the general theme of goodness,” says DLSU PR coordinator Arfie Koc. “This special screening comes at the most opportune time as the university is celebrating its centennial.”

Paglipad ng Anghel features an all-Lasallian cast led by Gawad Urian Best Actor and International Emmy nominee Sid Lucero, together with LJ Moreno, Christian Vasquez, Epi Quizon and Joel Torre with theater icon Audie Gemora, Doy’s former student, doing a cameo for the film.

The film explores the story of Gabby (Lucero), a young accountant in a television network, who leads an ordinary, if not boring, life. He wakes up to what seems like his regular day, does his daily routine, until he meets an old beggar asking for help. After extending an act of charity, he starts noticing two bumps growing on his back. As these bones grow into wings, his life gets complicated as he starts to face the consequences of being an “angel.”

Doy wrote the screenplay with the working title, Ang Lalaking Tinubuan ng Pakpak, in 1997. He was handling a screenwriting workshop then at DLSU and thought that he should also write a screenplay while his students wrote theirs.

“That screenplay was inspired by an incident that Manny Pichel, the late entertainment editor of the Philippines Daily Express, related to our group, the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino,” Doy shared. “It must have been before the mid-‘80s.  Manny saw an old beggar on the sidewalk, emaciated and dying, at least that was how the beggar looked to him. The beggar needed immediate help and Manny decided to carry the dying person.  Manny was frail himself, so he must have exerted a lot of effort.  There was no cab, but a calesa came by.  Manny brought the beggar to a place in Tondo where Mother Teresa’s community of nuns took care of the poor and the dying.”

Gabby (played by Sid Lucero) contemplates on his newfound fate.

With film credits including memorable, landmark movies like Maynila… Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag, ‘Merika, Mulanay, Aliwan Paradise, Markova, Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, Batch ’81, Kisapmata, and Bayaning 3rd World, Doy is easily one of the most prolific screenwriters of his generation.

Years ago, he did his first full-length film Pepot Artista, adjudged Best Picture at the first Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival in 2005.

Aside from his achievements in local showbiz, Doy is also one of the most loved professors of De La Salle University, where he is a part of the elite list of University Fellows — a distinction given to the best Lasallian academicians.

In 2009, Doy retired from full-time teaching. However, acknowledging his gift of storytelling, DLSU asked him to do a film that the university could use to raise funds for the One La Salle Scholarship Fund, a La Salle centennial campaign to raise P1B for 18,000 full scholars in La Salle schools nationwide.

“I didn’t know (and I still don’t know now) what Bro. Armin Luistro, then university president (and now DepEd secretary), was thinking, but he made an offer that I could not refuse — I was free to do any film I wanted to do (as long as it was within the budget, of course),” Del Mundo said.

Of course, the movie was Paglipad ng Anghel.

After a year of planning and discussion, Doy formed the production staff and cast of the film in 2010. It took the team 19 shooting days spread in about two to three calendar months to finish the principal photography, while post-production took several months more. 

Paglipad ng Anghel is independently-produced through Doy’s Buruka Films in cooperation with PostManila and through the additional support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. The movie is supported by Audie Gemora’s STAGES.

Paglipad ng Anghel will have a series of screenings on various La Salle campuses nationwide after the premiere night on June 12, which serves as a prelude to the DLSU centennial celebration on June 16.

Tickets are sold at P300. For inquiries and reservation, please contact the DLSU Centennial Commission Office at 524-2611 local 290.