AJ Raval & Sean de Guzman: Vivamax’s Pandemic Superstars  

Vivamax top director Roman Perez, Jr. calls his stars AJ Raval and Sean De Guzman as “Pandemic Superstars.” AJ and Sean top-billed Direk Roman’s “Taya” and are together anew in his upcoming offering “Hugas.”

“We gave our best in this film as we did in our past films together,” said AJ and Sean in their Zoom conference.

“Marami kaming natutuhan from our past movies together at ginamit namin ito in this movie,” said AJ. “Tinodo na namin lahat.”

“Pinagbutihan namin ang bawat eksena na ginagawa namin. We want to show our passion in our acting. We want to give our best because we also dream to be recognized for our acting ability.”

Sean added that since he and AJ had done two movies already, they are already comfortable doing sexy scenes. “Kailangan pati maipakita namin na ‘yung roles na ginagampanan namin ay in love talaga sa isa’t-isa.”

AJ said aside from doing sexy scenes in her movies, she also wants to follow the footsteps of her dad Jeric Raval who is an action star. That’s why she was excited with “Hugas” because of the action scenes she was asked to do.

“We want to do more projects that will help us improve as actors. We also want to be recognized for our acting,” added Sean.

Aside from the action scenes, erotic moments between Liezl (AJ) and Al (Sean) are to be expected from “Hugas”. This is the third time that AJ and Sean have worked together. Before “Taya”, there was “Nerisa”. Both have always been very vocal about how comfortable they are in doing delicate scenes, so their fans are guaranteed to enjoy another round – or rounds – of steamy love scenes in this movie.

“Hugas”, streaming on Vivamax this Friday (January 14) also stars Cara Gonzales, Stephanie Raz, Deberly Bancore, Jay Manalo, Bob Jbeili, and Joko Diaz.

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Not even Covid-19 pandemic can stop GEMS (Guild of Educators, Mentors and Students) in giving their Hiyas ng Sining awards. Headed by Mr. Norman Llaguno, the group announced the nominees in the various categories last December 28.

Although they have planned to have a live awarding for the winners, GEMS will have to settle anew for virtual awarding just like last year. The winners will be announced soon and a virtual awarding will happen by last week of February.

Leading the nominees in the film category are “Big Night,” top winner at the 2021 Metro Manila Film Festival Awards, and “On The Job: The Missing 8,” the sequel to the award-winning 2013 opus of Erik Matti, garnered eight nominations each, while “Kun Maupay Man It Panahon” (Whether the Weather Is Fine) and “Lockdown” got four nominations each.

Vying for Best Film are “A Hard Day” (Viva Communications, Inc.), “Big Night” (The Idea First Company), “Kun Maupay Man It Panahon” (Cinematografica), “Lockdown” (For The Love of Arts Films), and “On The Job: The Missing 8” (Reality MM Studios, Globe Studios).

Best Film Director contenders are Carlo Francisco Manatad (“Kun Maupay Man It Panahon”), Erik Matti (“On the Job: The Missing 8”), Joel Lamangan (“Lockdown”), Jun Robles Lana (“Big Night”), and Lawrence Fajardo (“A Hard Day”).

Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Male) nominees are Alan Paule (“Lockdown”), Christopher de Leon (“On the Job: The Missing 8”), Dante Rivero (“On the Job: The Missing 8”), Nico Antonio (“Big Night”), and Ricky Davao (“Big Night”).

 Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Female) contenders are Agot Isidro (“On the Job: The Missing 8”), Angie Castrence (“Gameboys: The Movie”), Eugene Domingo (“Big Night”), Jaclyn Jose (“The Housemaid”), and Lotlot de Leon (“On the Job: The Missing 8”).

Battling it out for Best Performance in a Lead Role (Male) are Christian Bables (“Big Night”), Daniel Padilla (“Kun Maupay Man It Panahon”), Dingdong Dantes (“A Hard Day”), Kokoy De Santos (“Gameboys: The Movie”), and Paolo Gumabao (“Lockdown”).

For Best Performance in a Lead Role (Female), the contenders are Alessandra De Rossi (“My Amanda”), Charo Santos (“Kun Maupay Man It Panahon”), Janine Gutierrez (“Dito at Doon”), Kylie Versoza (“The Housemaid”), and Sharon Cuneta (“Revirginized”).

According to Sir Norman, they have 100 voting members composed of educators, professionals and students. They made sure that all members have seen all the entries to enable them to cast their vote for the eventual winners.