‘Vince & Kath & James’ cast in Cebu today

CEBU, Philippines - Catch Julia Barretto and Maris Racal, the stars of the romantic film “Vince & Kath & James” during their mall tour today, 5 p.m. at the Mountain Wing Atrium of SM Seaside City Cebu.

Get your exclusive limited pass for every movie card worth P230 for the first 200 guests at the Mountain Wing Atrium starting 1 p.m.

The text-serye that spurred a social media phenomenon and Star Cinema’s official entry to the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival, “Vince & Kath & James” is set to screen in key cities worldwide via TFC@theMovies after its Philippine premiere on December 25.

The story of “Vince and Kath and James” is an adaptation from the text serye that became popular over social media sites.  Star Cinema brings together this generation’s most promising stars Julia Barretto, Joshua Garcia and Ronnie Alonte to give life to the key characters.

The narrative revolves around the series of text messages being sent by Vince (Joshua) in the hopes of earning Kath’s (Julia) nod for James (Ronnie). However, instead of focusing on the exchange of text messages, director Ted Boborol explains that he focused on giving life to the story happening behind the exchange of messages.

Boborol, the director behind the blockbuster movie “Just the Way You Are” and TV sensation “Forevermore” and “Be My Lady” explains: “Faithful siya sa story, it’s just that we explored more on what happened behind those exchange of text messages – kung anong buhay nila,” he says. “What interests me is lahat tayo nag-communicate via text, yet it’s subject to interpretation and we are not sometimes truthful with our texts.”

In “Vince and Kath and James,” Vince and Kath are the worst of friends, since the former often teases the latter whenever they see each other. What Kath doesn’t know is that Vince secretly has feelings for her.

Things get complicated when James asks Vince to pretend to be him and send Kath pick-up lines via text messages. The pretense even becomes more challenging because Vince finds himself falling more and more in love with Kath. However, to give way to his cousin James, Vince keeps his feelings at bay.

Boborol shares that they also put into consideration the younger generation’s immersion in technology, especially in text messaging and social media. “I realized na kids nowadays, the millennials as how they’re called, live filtered lives. We only post what’s beautiful for us. So what interests me is, paano nga ba sila ma-in love? Paano nga ba ma-in love ang isang millennial kung puro sila filter?” he teases.

The three lead stars of “Vince & Kath & James” agree that in this time when everyone seems to be technology-dependent, people forget to be true to their selves.

Julia notes that the youth sometimes forget the importance of strong family ties. “Family is a big factor in every situation. Friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, they come and go. But your family, your parents, they stay forever. And they only want the best for you,” she says.

The different attack of “Vince & Kath & James’” in conveying the story of the youth is what made the committee of this year’s MMFF consider it for the festival. “The MMFF committee said the film is a ‘reinvention of the teen genre,’” recalls Boborol.

While it is an MMFF entry, the movie will not only be seen by Filipinos here in the Philippines but also by Filipinos overseas as “Vince & Kath & James” will screen in key cities worldwide: December 29 in Papua New Guinea and in UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman; and December 30 in the US and Saipan.

This is good news for the lead cast of the film, especially for Ronnie because he has relatives abroad. “Hindi na nila kailangan umuwi ng Pilipinas, mapapanood na nila doon ‘yong pelikula,” he enthusiastically states.

The film also stars Ina Raymundo, Shamaine Buencamino, Ana Abad Santos, Jeric Raval, Allan Paule, Manuel Chua, Joshua Zamora, Axel Torres and Kim Andaya.

Find out how the widely popular term “#NoFilter” which means there are no editing involved, becomes applicable not only in photos but also in the lives of three teenagers in “Vince and Kath and James.” (FREEMAN)