KALEL, 15 Shows On Theaters Today

Fresh from their win at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival for Best Director, the film Kalel, 15 will be shown on theaters today on theaters nationwide. Elijah Canlas is the young lead actor for this project and yes, he has gotten the admiration of several members of the jury and the audience during their premiere night at the same festival. The story revolves around a 15 year old student who is  a Son of a priest and is HIV positive. 

“Working with a large cast of mostly very young actors he has made a film which feels deeply -rooted in the everyday lives of its characters. His film pulls away from the sticking-plaster from the wound of the AIDS epidemic among young people of the Philippines and exposes the terror and violence that this crisis imposes on them. It’s a passionate and concerned film about lives we never see in the West.” – Jury comment, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

They let us in on some things that happened during the shoot, Elijah shared “The production made an alter account for me and it had tons of followers the next day. It had my body shots but it had stickers so it didn’t show me. I had to lose weight, no abs, just an ordinary boy. I had to eat two apples for two or three weeks. If the scrip calls for it and I trust the director, I will do anything. If Direk Jun is shooting it, I am good. I just finished “He who is without sin” with Enzo Pineda and that will show soon. I am thankful Ms Jaclyn has been so good to me, also Tito Eddie Garcia. They are on a different league and caliber, it was just an honor to have been able to work with him. He advised me to always be early, learn the script and always be kind to everyone on set. It’s what I do now as an actor, I will forever be grateful for that advise.”

Director Jun Robles Lana also shared some of his future plans and adds “We are talking about a movie, perhaps a modern version of macho dancers. For now there are no plans yet, maybe with the same cast and a different script. We’ll have to see how it materializes soon. I am so honored to have been able to win the Best Director award in Estonia. I hope this resonates with people, but it was an entirely different audience and I was so surprised about their reaction. You would need to understand the reaction of his parents, his community and how society accepts him. He will tell his story, his secrets, if it comes out or not. I am grateful to have the honor of working with Eddie Garcia, I have had many opportunities to work with him and I haven’t seen anyone of his caliber.”

He adds "From the time I presented this project at the 2014 Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, the story has evolved into a more complex narrative.  After years of research and interviews, what started out as a mere tale of secrets and scandal became an examination of youth culture, particularly young people in peril, and a society that cares so little about them… On the surface, the movie is about a young boy’s struggle to belong and embrace life’s complications. But on a deeper level, it is about all of us, our search for meaning in a world where the very institutions we’re supposed to look up to are weighed down with hypocrisy, dishonesty and deception.”

Here’s a short interview we did a few days ago.

Kalel, 15 will interest you about the plight of teens with HIV, their lives and the stigma attached to the condition. It is something that teens should watch, to educate, hopefully even the generations who still think and take things lightly. Go watch it on theaters today December 18. This is under Cignal Entertainment, Octobertrain Films and The IdeaFirst Company. Cast also includes Elora Españo, Cedrick Juan, Sue Prado and Gabby Padilla. Go see it for its merits!

GMA Outs First Advocaserye “Hindi Ko Kayang Iwan Ka!”

Love is happiness, love is dreamy, but what if you suddenly found out that you have HIV? Will that be the end of your relationship? Will that mean the end of your existence? What would be more painful than having it? What if you didn’t know how you got it? That’s exactly what this show will try to answer. This is “Hindi Ko Kayang Iwan Ka!”

To inspire, to make you understand what an HIV positive person would go through while living with the virus. I think this is but a noble thing to do now that the statistics shows how huge HIV incidents happen in the Philippines. This is what they call an “advocaserye” (a series about an advocacy) and it’s starred by Yasmien Kurdi, Mike Tan, Martin Del Rosario.

Milo Alto Paz the show’s Executive Producer says “It’s not your usual drama, the incidents are high and people should be aware to actually make this successful and we hope you create a lot of noise so people would know more about it.”

Martin del Rosario says “Supporting this advocacy will help a lot of people, and I hope you enjoy watching the show.”

Mike Tan adds “I hope you get something more out of the episode, we hope you can help us spread the word about the show because it’s an advocacy which GMA spearheads. It’s like a documentary and people would want to watch this, it will help them to understand it and know how to help.”

Yasmien Kurdi says “I am so nervous, but excited at the same time for you to see what we’ve done for the past few months. On February 26, please help us through social media and help us make this known through your blogs so people would be able to read about it and watch our show.”

We watched the first episode ahead of everyone this afternoon and it’s quite nice to actually see how it all started. You’ll also get to know how each individual character would get connected, as Mike Tan says fate has a lot to do with how people meet. It’s a very complicated story to tell because the topic alone means you have to explain things. You have to be patient, but be prepared also to get butterflies when Marco and Thea’s love story begins.

Ms. Gina Alajar (Marco’s Mom) and Jackie Rice (Eva is Marco’s Girlfriend) will be making the whole thing miserable. Watch out for instances where they’ll be slapping them around silly... because it will happen and the prejudice against HIV patients is real. Watch out for the show during GMA’s Afternoon Prime starting February 26.

KUMAGCOW

Fresh Blogs Fast!

Free HIV Counselling, Testing and Treatment at QC's Klinika Bernardo

It's alarming, it's not a joke and it's time we put it to stop. I've joined several causes for HIV and it's good that there is an effort at least, but still the rate of increase is something to worry about. Unfortunately, Quezon City has the highest registered number of cases, and in the Philippines 77% of the total new cases come from NCR. It has increased up to 25 percent and estimates say that in 2015 we might get to 45,000 no joke. I am distraught at the numbers, but more importantly depressed at what could happen, the person beside you might be a carrier and we don't even know it. 

Danton Remoto says "Mind you, we've got 1.5 Million people already who died from for AIDS/HIV cases and since I'm from "laglag" now and not from "ladlad", I'm helping the Quezon City government with efforts to address these issues." 

"The state of HIV in the Philippines has rapidly changed in the last 5 years, and it's growing. The number of HIV infections is now 1 new case every 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is about 17 cases per day. There is now 21,000 diagnosed since then. Sexual contact is still the number 1 way of getting it and sharing needles is next. Filipino males are the highest, it also stems from unprotected sex. What's alarming is 15-24 years old comprise 30 percent of this number. We might have less smoking, drugs and vices but have increased sexual adventurism. Thank you to USAID for their invaluable assistance to this effort. We hope all government units follow suit." says Assistant Secretary Pauline Urial of DOH. 

Senior Public Advisor in USAID Dr. Milton Amayun adds "In the Philippines when we talk about HIV we often think of bad news, but really the threat is real. Out of the total number of HIV cases, 93 percent is male. This requires focus, and would you believe there is 812% growth since 2008. We congratulate the QC Government for we encourage everyone, just like Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte here to get tested. The US Government is supporting the Philippine government efforts, and piloting things like this one in Quezon City is impressive. I hope others follow suit. We are very please to partner with them in fighting AIDS/HIV with the objective to have 0% increase, 0 discrimination and reaching out to more people in need." 

Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte says "The first step in making a solution in this problem is accepting that there is a problem. We proactively partner in Government and NGO's to set up places like Klinika Bernardo and ensure the health services are given to them. The change will make it conducive to people and we will make additional clinics in other parts of Quezon City. This is part of our continued support to the youth so they have somewhere to seek advice from, especially health concerns. We are progressive, we are going to move forward and will also put up a specialized one for women at the Quezon City General Hospital. We have a gender sensitive anti discrimination ordinance that includes the LGBT sector, they now have equal rights in services. To know is to live, we recognize it is our responsibility to address this issue." 

Mayor Herbert Bautista proudly says "The officers of our health department are professional career officers. They are the ones who are really running the government. To be able to continue programs and implement policies, our thrust is heavily relied by bureaucracy. We come up with the policies and have a progressive council that knows that this issue should be dealt with. We do not condone, but we accept facts and reality. Klinika Bernardo is only a small investment and we hope it gets done in other cities especially in highly urbanized ones. The impact of this is very strong, we thank USAID when they first presented it to me. It was impressive, the purpose is to make the HIV council to monitor on a regular basis. We are very fortunate to be lower than some ASEAN countries but we do know this contribution is important and we will annually do this in our programs without compromising their privacy. We will also launch more communications plans, and perhaps build homes or shelters for people with HIV too. USAID has been our partner in TB and other diseases and I hope we continue to do this with Department of Health and our Vice Mayor for this, and the other issues that have been addressed with that. We just have to let them know that there's government presence, a government that will take care of them too." 

Klinika Bernardo is the first male sexual and reproductive facility in the country. The sooner you get tested, the sooner you can get treatment. This is why Klinika Bernardo had a facelift, it is now conducive to go back for testing and counseling. Their clinic is just behind Ramon Magsaysay High School in Cubao, Quezon City. It's easy to see and spot, just look for the leaf symbols on the street and on the building!

For more information about their cause:

klinika.bernardo

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https://www.facebook.com/KlinikaBernardo