Last month, a call for auditions was announced by the production and the Philippine Nurses Association for the film "SIGLO NG KALINGA". This is about the life of Anastacia Giron Tupas set in three acts. In an unconventional move, they wanted to have the cast to be all NURSES. This weekend, they just announced an ensemble cast who would tell the story of the honorable lady.
Dr. Carl Balita was right. If you think about it, casting nurses in the film would entail training them because not all are professional actors. He believes in them that much, with their talent, and proved he could find the right people for the project. With the help of Archie Del Mundo who wrote and is line producing this film, they presented these individuals to the press last week.
Now it can be told, the cast includes Abbey Romero, Denmark Mismanos, Jewell Alano, Lorrich Del Tantoco, Joel Rey Carcasano, Jerico Roque, Dre Canaria, Bambi Rojas, VJ Mendoza, Tads Obach, Ms. Irma Bustamante and Ms. Lydia Palaypay. The title role of Anna Formantes went to Joy Ras who also was extremely emotional that afternoon. She mentions "Nurses are like actors too, we do our jobs everyday and try not to show much emotions especially when we get affected when someone dies, we feel and remember patients when that happens. Our jobs as nurses in a way equate to acting experience."
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| VJ Mendoza will play Alfred in the film. |
VJ Mendoza adds "When I saw how they worked in the workshops we had, I saw how intelligent they were picking up advanced acting methods being taught to us by Ms. Angeli Bayani. They follow instructions very well. Imagine, I have been doing acting projects for many years, and they are at par with what I could do!"
To tell you honestly, the line of questions asked by the press was a bit worrisome as it questioned the lack of experienced actors in the list. Dr. Carl Balita took time to explain their goal of giving the roles to equally talented Nurses that would fit what they need to do in the film and how they were able to see what huge potential lies with the new cast. All of them were also eager to showcase the lives of unsung heroes, who got recognized about their work especially during the pandemic. This is a dream for most of them, and being a part of a movement to tell the story of Anastacia Giron Tupas was truly an honor they wouldn't want to pass on. As Dr. Carl says "They have what it takes to perform the role (the actors that we chose), this is for the love of the nurses whom I want to put on the spot!" and we certainly couldn't agree more.
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| Joy Ras and Tads Obach will play Anna Formantes and Tony, a couple |
Aside from the cast, Dr. Carl Balita also told us that he's working on several nurse actors like Rocco Nacino, Kuh Ledesma, Princess Punzalan, Carol Banawa and other artists to become a part of this film (or cameo roles) once the ball starts rolling. The piece will be shown mid next year and they are still finalizing some of the details. I could feel they too were so excited about the possibility of the actors surprising us all with their performances in this project, which they would rather want to do once it shows on theaters.
A lot of people are already eager to see what Director Lemuel Lorca has up his sleeves as this will be part of the award winning work he's already done in the past few years. They have intentions of putting this into international film festivals, and I wouldn't be surprised if it picks up a laurel or more when showcased abroad.
From what I see, Dr. Carl Balita and the Philippine Nurses Association already has a gem in their hand. If the accolades come and the viewing public gets to see this film, they deserve every bit of praise they would get from SIGLO NG KALINGA.
Congratulations to everyone who's making this dream a reality!
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