Edgar Allan Guzman’s MMFF moment has come

It was Edgar Allan Guzman’s 29th birthday last Monday, November 20, and he considers it memorable because his latest movie “Deadma Walking” where he shares billing with Joross Gamboa was chosen as an official entry to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.

The announcement of the additional filmfest entries was made last Friday at Club Filipino. For Edgar, this was an early birthday gift.

“I am very thankful to this wonderful blessing from the Lord,” said EA who is returning to the MMFF but this time as a lead actor of “Deadma Walking” which is based on the Palanca award-winning script of Eric Cabahug and is the debut assignment of director Julius Alfonso.

EA got the news as he was on his way to Club Filipino for the announcement presscon of the final four filmfest entries based on finished products.

“I was on the road when I received a call from Sir Noel [Ferrer, his manager] that ‘Deadma Walking’ made it. This is the best birthday gift. This is another opportunity for me. This news really made my birthday more special,” said the “My Korean Jagiya” cast member.

When he and Joross finished filming “Deadma Walking,” EA said he had been praying every night, with the hope that their movie gets selected as an official entry.

“My prayer is that if our film will be chosen, it is the will of God. I also consider it significant since I had an MMFF entry before but I did not play the lead. This time, I am the lead together with Joross who is also a dear friend,” he said.

“It is worth all our hard work. Tsaka, I used to be Joross’ backup dancer before but I never imagined that one day, we will be able to do a movie together, much more, the movie being chosen as entry to the festival. This is a very important moment for me and Joross.”

What can viewers expect from your movie? “May katatawanan. There is a little bit of drama because of the friendship between me and Joross. ‘Deadma Walking’ is a story of friendship between two gays. Hindi lang ito puro kalokohan at katatawanan pero may aral din sa dulo. It is a movie about friendship and love,” said EA who plays the flamboyant theatre actor in the film while Joross is his closeted gay friend.

This year’s filmfest has entries from box-office stars Vice Ganda, Coco Martin, and Vic Sotto – truly formidable foes for an indie film like “Deadma Walking.” What does EA think of their chances of attracting the audiences?

“It is up to me and Joross how to entice the people to watch our film. Bahala na kami sa strategy on how to promote the movie. But I believe the Pinoy audience loves to watch movies every Christmas, especially the MMFF entries and I believe they will watch all the eight entries.”

Our birthday wish for EA is that he wins an award for “Deadma Walking,” and we also wish that this film produced by T-Rex Productions will be able to duplicate, if not surpass, the success of “Die Beautiful” when it competed at the 2016 MMFF.

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We didn’t realize that Janine Gutierrez, the daughter of Lotlot de Leon and Ramon Christopher, has a good singing voice until we watched her singing with her Lola Pilita Corrales when the ageless Asia’s Queen of Songs held a concert at The Theatre of Solaire Hotel last Friday.

And she is such a refreshing sight onstage. Based on the numerous old photos of Tita Pilita which were flashed onscreen, Janine looks like the young Pilita. We hope that Janine will be offered a recording contract.

The refreshing beauty of Janine was just one reason why we enjoyed Pilita’s concert immensely. It was our first time to watch Pilita in a solo concert and the iconic singing idol who wowed Australia as a young singer was just awesome. She can just stand onstage and sing with ease her signature songs and your night is made.

Pilita is such a class act. Among the numbers she did, we liked best her number with her children Monching and Jackie. There was a video of Monching and Jackie talking about their mom which was very touching and revealing. Then they sang “Sa Ugoy ng Duyan” which, we are certain, sent the audience misty-eyed.

The videos traced back Pilita’s career and her repertoire of timeless hits (as well as a brief rendition of “Despacito”) surely endeared her to the captive audience mesmerized by her talent and wit.