Cesar ‘dances’ against Superman

You have to leave it to Cesar Apolinario to take time out from his airtight work as GMA field reporter and squeeze in a few days for his real passion  making movies (indies, specifically).

“Mahirap pagsabay-sabayin,” Cesar told Funfare. “And there’s my family to attend to pa.”

But if there’s a will, there’s a way.

In 2008, Cesar had his debut as film director with Banal (starring Christopher de Leon) and surprised everybody when he beat the veterans by bagging the Best Director award at the Metro Filmfest. In 2009, Cesar did Puntod, another indie, that won him Best Director at the Star Awards for Movie of the PMPC (Philippine Movie Press Club) and New Female Actress for its lead star, Barbie Forteza.

“That same year,” said Cesar, “I did Estasyon, a very personal film about the Black Nazarene which I used to cover during the procession. I did it not to make money but for my own personal satisfaction. It was shown in New York and Bangladesh.”

Also in 2009, Cesar was offered to direct Kingpin ng Maynila: The Asiong Salonga Story (with Laguna Gov. E.R. Ejercito as actor-producer) but he begged off because the shoot would take more than 45 calendar days.

“I cannot be away from my work at GMA that long,” qualified Cesar who usually wraps up his indies in a few days (Banal in 10 days and Puntod in eight days), just like Regal Matriarch’s Mother Lily Monteverde’s landmark pito-pito films that discovered the likes of Lav Diaz and Jeffrey Jeturian, proving beyond doubt that it’s not how long you do it but how well you do it.

Cesar becomes more daring in his new indie, Dance Of The Steelbars (DOTS), not just in theme but more so in pitting it against Man Of Steel (the new Superman outing) which opens nationwide also on Wednesday, June 12, at SM Cinemas.

“We decided to release DOTS on that date in celebration of Independence Day,” said Cesar. “We thought Filipinos watching a movie about redemption, about freeing ourselves from shackles that bind our true selves will be a very appropriate way to commemorate a historical event. We are hoping that Filipinos will feel more nationalistic and opt to watch DOTS. It is an important movie that projects the Filipino people and our country in a positive light. We plan to release it in major cities like Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Qatar and Singapore.”

The story of DOTS was inspired by actual events in a Filipino prison, the struggles that inmates experience and their quest to feel human again. It follows Frank Parish (Patrick Bergin, the Hollywood actor who appeared in Enemy of the State with Will Smith and Julia Roberts), a retired US fireman and philanthropist who finds himself wrongly accused of murder and jailed in the Philippines. Stuck in prison, Frank was beginning to lose faith in everything he believed in until he becomes friends with Mando (Dingdong Dantes), a convicted murderer who denies his passion for dancing just to prove his masculinity and Allona (Joey Paras), a transsexual who tries to contribute to prison reforms by teaching his fellow inmates dance exercises. They get involved in a tricky struggle between the positive changes initiated by the new warden (Ricky Davao) and the corrupt system that weighs down the inmates’ chance to become better individuals. Frank finds himself caught in an intricate web of lies and must choose between concealing what he knows to keep himself out of danger or to help his fellow inmates by revealing the truth. Will he remain on the sidelines as an observer, or will he dance the dance of the steel bars?

“That’s the question,” said Cesar who hinted that there’s a twist in the ending. “That’s for you to find out.”

According to Cesar, DOTS was conceptualized in 2007 during the shoot of Banal.

“Marnie (Manicad, wife of GMA reporter Jiggy Manicad) was with me working as associate producer at that time,” said Cesar. “During the Banal shoot, Marnie said that she also wanted to direct a film. I asked her if she was willing to co-direct DOTS with me. The idea I was thinking at that time was, the world-renowned Cebu dancing inmates. Marnie liked the idea.”

Marnie pitched the project to guys at Portfolio Films, who expressed their interest in it and saw the script’s potential to be developed into a screenplay that would capture audiences abroad.

“I then asked Cris Lim, my co-writer in Banal to work on the original script which he evolved into the final screenplay,” added Cesar.

It wasn’t hard convincing Dingdong to do the movie (the fact that he’s a good dancer is a plus factor).

“I talked to his manager, Perry (Lansigan). He read the script and he liked it. He passed it to Dingdong and he liked it, too. Dingdong was actually my first choice for the lead role in Banal but he begged off because he was busy with two films also for the Metro Filmfest at that time.”

On the last shooting day, Patrick told Cesar, “This is a freakin’ miracle! In the US, indie films usually take 45 days or more to finish. You did it in seven days!”

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