The digital BL (Boys’ Love) series, Hello Stranger, is now a full-length film. It is ABS-CBN Film Productions and Black Sheep’s Valentine offering this year.
“The movie is the continuation of the series,” said Black Sheep head Kriz Gazmen in a virtual media call that was also graced by ABS-CBN Films-Star Cinema managing director, filmmaker Olivia Lamasan.
“It picks up exactly where the series left off. But yung maganda, from virtual romance to face-to-face, magkakasama sila (Good thing is the characters who started their romance virtually will finally be together in person).”
Yes, the well-loved Xavier de Guzman and Mico Ramos (portrayed by Tony Labrusca and JC Alcantara, respectively), also known as XavMi, will see each other, eye to eye, without the screen that both connects and separates them, in the movie world they inhabit.
“In case you’re wondering,” added Kriz, giving more details to the narrative’s premise, “Our vision was to set the film in a way we imagined the post-pandemic world (like) what if there’s no pandemic na pwede na ulit na magsama-sama ang tao (and that people can gather again).” So, it will somehow pose this question: Will love that started in the technology-mediated world flourish in the real world? Hello Stranger: The Movie will give viewers a possible scenario or perspective, maybe not totally different from everyone else’s, about love that is true and resilient.
“It will bring us to that feeling of nostalgia na pwede tayong magyakapan, pwede tayong magtawanan ng face-to-face (in a time when we can hug each other and laugh with one another),” shared Kriz. “We want to give our audiences hope, even if there’s pandemic now. It will be over and magkakasama-sama tayo ulit (we can be physically together again).”
Again, Hello Stranger: The Movie is ABS-CBN Films-Black Sheep’s gift to all this season of love. “We’ve always been a part of the Filipinos’ lives in celebrating Valentine’s Day,” said direk Olivia. The film is a welcome addition to the Valentine-themed content headlined by such loveteams as KathNiel (Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla) and LizQuen (Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil).
“When you watch it, it is not just for the BL community,” said the director. “It cuts across (audience markets), materyal pa lang, series pa lang, it is for everybody, kilig na kilig ako (I got romantically thrilled). It’s been a long time since (I felt that way).” Regardless of gender, love is love. It is for everyone to experience and share.
Hello Stranger was introduced as a series, which gained a following. Its movie version is the perfect way to culminate the BL story and see where it is heading to.
The film is a testament to ABS-CBN Films’ mission to touch more audiences through content about the latter’s context. It is the vision, too, of direk Olivia, said Kriz. “Nakikita ni Inang (director Olivia) yung growth ng market, hindi lang isang segment ng market ang dapat na kini-cater namin (She is able to see the growth of a market and the company should not only cater to one market segment but also to other segments). There are also other audiences who have other tastes when it comes to content. They look for something else in a movie and have their own sensibilities.” This propelled director Olivia to put up Black Sheep that creates edgier content.
Let’s continue to witness the romance between Xavier and Mico as they bring it to the next level and prove that love wins.
(Directed by Dwein Ruedas Baltazar, Hello Stranger: The Movie will stream worldwide starting today, Feb. 12 via KTX.ph, iWant TFC and TFC IPTV; Sky Cable pay-per-view, and Cignal pay-per-view. It is distributed by Cinexpress. Tickets are priced at P200.)