WATCH LIST: PH Showing Slated February 19

Alessandra de Rossi stars the movie WATCH LIST, a very powerful international film that has gained the nod of several international film festivals and won he hearts of cinema fans worldwide. It’s directed by Hollywood based American-Indian film maker Ben Rekhi which he also co-wrote with Rona Lean Sales. It’s a story about a woman recovering from drug use. Her husband got killed and stands now as breadwinner and protector of her kids which Rekhi dubs as “A very human story as it talks about how a mother would go the lengths to protect her children.” Together with Alessandra, she stars here with Jake Macapagal, Art Acuña, Lou Veloso, Jess Mendoza, Angeli Abayani, Micko Laurente and Timothy Mabalot. 

It’s a little disturbing to see how it talks about matters close to home. The drug campaign by the government, politics, poverty, the who enchilada of things that are so taboo to talk about in the country. All of which may or may not be fiction. 

Working also with Ben is Executive Producer Anjay Nagpal who is also co-executive producer of the film Joker. Aside from that, he also has international cinematographer Daniella Nowitz and world class production designer Ericson Navarro. The film has already participated in Deauville American Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival and won Most Disturbing Fiction Film Award at Tournai Ramdam Festival in Belgium. 

Ben says “I’m excited to be here, to finally be able to see the release of it in the country. I spoke to Alessandra and she apologized she couldn’t come. I came across a photo of a woman who held her husband dead. I called the journalist and she told me stories she was covering and I couldn’t believe and understand it. I came to Manila and there were a lot of emotional things, I have never felt this before, I felt there was a higher presence that was compelling me to do this. I realized more and more to make this film. Yes there were challenges, but the community was welcoming to tell me about it. Wether the film was in English, Tagalog or Hindi, they were all good in English so it was east to communicate. The cast and crew were very supportive, sometimes the universe conspires this to happen and I have worked with talent in the US and I think Alex can win an Oscar one day. They are crazy talented. Early on I partnered with Reality Entertainment and Erik Matti suggested to me these actors including Art Acuna.  I have done films in India, shooting outside the US meant it just got a lot of talent elsewhere. Shooting in the neighborhoods itself like the violent places was an intense labor of love. Truth was the guiding principle, living in these circumstances made me a foreigner have to do tremendous amount of research. We shot this over 16 days and a lot of post production. A year at most. Originally I wanna pick someone older for a role, but I found the most talented people and it will break hearts to see talents like these (Micko). The Oscars and Parasite film makes it possible do hybrid style movies to open doors of conversations, everything is possible. I was here for 6 months and haven’t explored the country except Caloocan City’s 2nd Avenue. This is my fifth film, but I’m most proud of. Not knowing what people would want, but regardless hope this connects to an emotional level.”

Micko Laurente says “Finally, I am so excited to see the film in the Philippines. I just heard now that he watched my previous movie. It was very memorable for me (Bambanti) and I miss Alessandra a lot, when I learned there was an audition about it, I was happy just to see she was the Mom playing the role. Thank you for making me a part of it. In all the films I made, he’s one great guy. He picks the angles, the shots, he knows how to attack it before we do it on set. He’s not like a local director who screams at his actors. He’s very cool, even if he’s running out of sunlight, he was very calm about it. I have worked with Alessandra in two other films, when we did this she was funny, but when the work comes, she’s on cue to work with me and do it fast and efficient. I don’t usually do bad things so we get along quite well.”

This will show on theaters starting February 19, and is released by Reality Entertainment.

Through Night and Day

This Alessandra De Rossi and Paulo Contis movie had so much to give. It’s a heartwarming story amidst the cold nights, days which they all shot in Iceland. The couple is cute, best friends when they were kids, neighbors too, sweethearts in highschool, got engaged and went to this absolutely gorgeous place in Europe. 

Here’s a couple of things you could find interesting about this film.

Iceland is majestic - the trees, the flowers, the hills are all dreamy. Going around while bare, rustic and freezing, it didn’t matter as long as they are together. They also have weird weather, but the Aurora Borealis is just the perfect setting for romance. They will show that and a whole lot more unbelievable spots in the country.

Paulo’s timing is legendary. He’s funny, we all know that but his inserts here are reminiscent of the boyfriend girlfriend relationship we all wanted.

Alessandra is annoying, but the kind that is cute and if ever she does ask for something impossible, or bad, but she still gets away with it. 

There will be small fights, the kind that hurts and builds up, when you think that you already know each other but when you rely on each other while traveling, you get to measure how much you are willing to sacrifice with each other. Half of the film is funny and heartwarming. In a way you will get to question that coming to the latter part of the movie.

When you get to see the same face everyday, when you find out all the flaws in relationships and the ways of finding your own happiness, do you give up? Do you lose all patience? How do you love? Where will you find yourself if you were in their shoes?

Go figure out by watching Through Night and Day in theaters starting November 14. This is produced by Viva Films, Octoarts Films and is graded A. Maybe that would convince you to watch this film. Don’t cry though, I have to warn you.

KUMAGCOW

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Through Night and Day

A new movie starring Paulo Contis and Alessandra de Rossi is going to be shown in theaters this November 14, 2018. This is produced by Viva Films and Octoarts Films and talks about couple Ben and Jen who went on to a journey in Iceland. This is a real change in venue, real change in scenery, so just imagine how that would look like on screen. It’s called Through Night and Day.

Their director Ronnie Velaso says “It is difficult to shoot these kind of things because of the weather, the cold was just negative levels so you can just imagine. I appreciate her inputs because as an actor it was character driven. They have really long scenes because their come backs are real and insulting, it’s like cariño brutal and the producers didn’t know how good it looked like on screen. I hope you help is promote this because it is good. We had so much scenes in things that you would love to see, it is expensive, each water bottle is Php150, grocery a few pieces would cost Php3,500, it is difficult getting food and traveling around. We thank you for being here, this movie is worth watching and I hope a lot of people would get to watch it.”

Paulo says “While you are young, you’re both good but you grow and change priorities. Iceland was just a place where I propose and both know each other even more. 20 years being friends and 13 years being together but you have funny, more natural things to discover with each other and hopefully it is something you’ll learn to love. We went to Iceland, to Baguio, we had different films in Octoarts, there are no new things to say because we have no limits when we are paired up and hopefully this translates to the screen. I bought something day 1 and still ate it on day 8. Alex and I are okay at work and when we meet we go no holds barred. It’s just trust and we have issues against my big ears. I am thankful they got me in this movie. I hope you get to fall in love with Ben and Jen as we have too.”

Alessandra says “Jen fails the bar twice, but one who always wants to pursue her dreams to be a lawyer. Paulo and I are okay, we had 3 hours of sleep each day and didn’t get to tour around because of work and the weather. You can feel the wind move the vans literally that it almost toppled the van while we were shooting. It is not a film you can take scenes from because it is dangerous and we had limited time. Paulo and I have been classmates in school, he bullied me a lot in the past but we made movies already, he realized I was perfect. I wrote the story and conceptualized it in my mind, Paulo added a lot and green jokes because he’s good at it. When we got there it was just so cold to write about it, so I stressed Laureen so she could write about it and my story suddenly felt boring versus what she came up with. I have my everything here, I have never been so excited about something and this it.”

Again, make sure you watch this romcom on theaters come November 14, 2018 as both of the stars promise it will be worth your while.

KUMAGCOW 

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