‘Spring-ful’ of diverse films

MANILA, Philippines — “Medyo diverse, medyo edgy.”

This is how Piolo Pascual as Spring Films founder-producer described the 2019 slate of movies his film production will engage cineastes in during a media call-cum-movie premiere event. The latter primarily celebrated the 10-year milestone of Spring Films (with director Joyce Bernal and Erickson Raymundo as Piolo’s fellow founder-producers) and premiered its first offering Kuya Wes.

“(I hope) we give you something worthwhile, sana magustuhan ninyo ang mga pelikula namin. Sana mayroon pa tayong magawang pelikula. (I hope you will like our movies and we will be able to produce more).”

Spring Films, among the young film-producing players that tell stories that matter, is a testament to the vibrance and promise of Philippine Cinema, which marks its centenary this year.

As a tribute and contribution to that event, Spring Films has lined up a dozen of film narratives and among them are, again, James Robin Mayo’s Kuya Wes, and Avid Liongoren’s Hayop Ka!.

“May mga nadagdag (there were new scenes being added), especially in the ending,” said James of his commercial-release version of Kuya Wes, a 2018 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival entry, starring Ogie Alcasid as the title role, Ina Raymundo, Moi Bien and Alex Medina. “May nadagdag that we didn’t include in the first cut perhaps due to limited time (that we had then) to explore (possibilities). After Cinemalaya, we had a long (period of) time to explore possibilities kung paano pa ma-e-enhance yung pagkakalatag ni Kuya Wes (on how to enhance the presentation of the character Kuya Wes).”

To get a glimpse of the experience, James shared: “My analogy is, it can be likened to your child who is usually dressed up this way and (he or she) can also be dressed up with this (particular) style... Almost ganon pa rin, in a way nadagdagan (ito) ng scene(s) pero na-tighten yung duration.”

Spring Films producers (from left): Erickson Raymundo, Joyce Bernal and Piolo Pascual

The director and his team didn’t have to shoot additional scenes for they had enough materials to bank on. “Maganda talaga yung process ng... mix and match,” he added.

Kuya Wes, a tale of love that involves a remittance clerk (Ogie) and a beautiful customer (Ina), is Spring Films’ first full-length narrative to be released in theaters.

Hayop Ka!, on the other hand, is the film outfit’s animated feature. It’s a collaboration with Avid, the director of live-action-animation Saving Sally with Rhian Ramos in the lead.

“Since it’s a full cartoon, it’s a bit easier,” he said, comparing it to his first-venture Saving Sally with the use of green screen and special effects. “This is pure cartoon... It’s still very long for a local film but very short for us, mahaba talaga kapag anything animated.” The production of Hayop Ka! started around late 2016 and it features the voices of Angelica Panganiban, Arci Muñoz, Empoy Marquez, Robin Padilla and Sam Milby.

Asked about the narrative to be explored in the animated feature, Avid said, “(It) is very simple. It’s very telenovela. It’s about a cat who doesn’t know or can’t figure out whom she will go with — the janitor-boyfriend that she loves or the new suitor who is rich. It’s your standard telenovela fare but told with cats and dogs.” The inspiration for Hayop Ka! was drawn from the callers of Papa Jack (now known as Papa DJ Jackson) in his late-night radio show. From there, one could guess the climax. “It’s very radio drama, very soap opera. The running time is 70 minutes,” he said.

How was the experience collaborating with Spring Films?

“What I like about (working) with Spring Films is they know how to play the mainstream game... and at the same time, they give directors, filmmakers the independence of an indie cinema. It’s a partnership,” replied Avid.

As for James, he had this to say: “The process that I and direk Joyce had, na hindi  pinababayaan yung vision ko (my vision remained intact). Parang sasabihin niya, ‘James, OK ba ‘to? OK ‘to?’ Since I’m a new filmmaker, she has guided me to become more confident. Her approach was not, like, ‘I’m the producer.’ It was more of like her giving (me) suggestions and sometimes she had questions but she let me decide (at the end). It was like I got a free mentorship from her.”

Meanwhile, Sunshine Family, I’m Ellenya L., UP Project, Istariray is Born, Puppy Love, Marawi (Children of the Lake), The Bouncer, A Short History of Parking Lots, Ang Araw ng Itim na Nazareno and Post Angat are also in the pipeline of Spring Films.