MANILA, Philippines — It was a simple class project that became the little film that could and did, inspiring a cult following and finally, a sequel. TBA Studios is banking on the success of Nestor Abrogena’s 2015 sleeper indie hit Ang Kwento Nating Dalawa, as it produces the sequel, Tayo Sa Huling Buwan Ng Taon, four years later, premiering on May 8.
The newbie director is the last person to expect a sequel. First of all, the turnout of his debut movie that made this sequel possible continues to surprise him.
Nestor recalled to The STAR the amazing story of how Ang Kwento Nating Dalawa came to be. It was meant to be a short-film school project as required for his Masters in Media Studies at UP Diliman. At that time, he was also working as a teacher and production designer.
“The plan was a short film then I shot it for two days. Nagulat ako nung nag-edit na kami, full-length na ang pelikula,” he said. “I’ve always joked to my friends that I’m an accidental director. Di talaga ako sanay kasi production designer ako. Then sinabi nila, congratulations, it’s your debut film.”
The first-ever screening was at UP Cine Adarna. “I really thought the film was pang-classroom lang. When it premiered in UP the first time, I was told to submit it as an entry to the (2015) World Premieres Film Festival. People at UP were the ones who pushed for it, then naging mas malaki yung platform ko right after that.”
Word about the film further spread within the UP community. School orgs would sponsor screenings in other campuses. “That’s how it started. Then, we gained traction. For the last three years, I was able to tour 64 schools all over the country,” Nestor said. “It just grew bigger and bigger over the years.”
TBA found out about Ang Kwento Nating Dalawa when another screening to accommodate requests was held at Cinema ’76, the micro-cinema in San Juan City whose founders are also the people behind the film studio. This was in February 2016. Regular screenings at the micro-cinema then followed in June 2016.
TBA president Vincent Nebrida shared how shocked they were at the reception to the film. “Unbelievably, it started slow, but sobrang dumami ng mga tao. The budget for the film was P800,000 because it was a UP thesis film, but it played for almost nine weeks sa amin, and then it raked back its investment, with a total of P2M earnings sa amin lang, which is a 60-seater, a micro-cinema.”
Direk Nestor with Emmanuelle and Nicco (lead stars of the first film) and TBA big bosses Vincent Nebrida, Ed Rocha and Fernando Ortigas during a presscon for the film.
Nebrida continued, “And then we found out, when we talked to the people, they would say, ang ganda ganda po ng pelikula. They would come back and watch the film three or four times! Unbelievable, it had a following talaga!”
As a result of that successful run, TBA decided to bring Ang Kwento Nating Dalawa to the bigger theaters. The film was able to secure and screen in eight SM cinemas in November 2016. Nebrida said, “True enough, it made P3.5M in one week! So, we were all shocked by the response.”
“It’s just a very simple film,” he said, adding that it however resonated with the audience for its relatable, tender love story between a budding filmmaker and a film student.
“So, what makes it special is the way the audiences have responded to this film,” Nebrida said.
As for Nestor, the film didn’t only transcend expectations, it has also opened a lot of opportunities for him, foremost of which is the follow-up project Tayo Sa Huling Buwan Ng Taon.
“Sobra! Nag-uno ako dun pero alam mo, dahil sa pelikulang ito, hindi na ako grumaduate sa MA ko hahaha (It got a grade of flat 1.0 but because of the film, I wasn’t able to finish my Masters). I couldn’t return to my job as a production designer either. I had to let go because new opportunities have been coming in,” said Nestor, who has decided to focus on directing what with job offers to helm another movie and a TV series.
Meanwhile, he’s very thankful that the sequel enjoys the full and unequivocal support of the production outfit behind such films as Heneral Luna and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral.
Due to fan clamor, a sequel was originally planned for release in 2017. “It became a social media phenomenon, to the point that fans were already directing where the characters would go while I was still writing the sequel,” said Nestor.
“To begin with, I didn’t expect that I’d be doing a sequel until TBA approached me, (asking) why not follow up on the story? They gave me enough time and that opportunity. Until now medyo weird pa rin that the film has a sequel. I’m very thankful to the producers.”
Tayo Sa Huling Buwan Ng Taon continues the story five years after, with Nicco Manalo and Emmanuelle Vera reprising their roles as the ex-lovers Sam and Isa. The young filmmaker Sam has become a high school teacher, while the aspiring writer Isa is doing well in her career as a screenwriter and shuttling between abroad and the Philippines. They are both now romantically involved with new characters played by Alex Medina (as Frank) and Anna Luna (as Anna).
Emmanuelle said of her character, “For Isa, the character development is the hardest part. Both films, they’re very character- and story-centric, no frills, very raw, no pretenses. But what we did, we really built the characters, broke them down and analyzed them, and we became the characters.”
She added, “Isa, five years later, is evidently more mature, but maybe not so much. (So the challenge is) kinda balancing the tension between being more of an adult and having these childish tendencies, and you’ll figure out why when you see the movie. She’s the same person, but at the same time, she’s not. She’s grown but she has also regressed in certain ways.”
If Ang Kuwento Nating Dalawa featured just Sam and Isa, Nicco said that in Tayo Sa Huling Buwan Ng Taon, “it’s now about the four of them and the people around them, how they affect these people, and how they go about in their lives.”
He continued, “For Sam, parang ngayon, he’s really, really set on making things right for the people around him because of what happened to him and Isa (in the original film). It’s more about — let’s forget about myself for now, think about the people around me, what I need to do with them because it’s not just about me anymore, I don’t live for myself only.”
Tayo Sa Huling Buwan Ng Taon opens on May 8.