Get to know the creative artists behind The IdeaFirst Company

I seldom watch tagalog movies. But when I do,  I take to consideration good acting, storyline, the actors involved and the director.  I googled reviews about the movie that I am going to watch.  If movie reviews would cost me sleepless nights then that is the sign that I would see it per se. With the high cost of living nowadays, it is but hard to scoop up php280 to php300 for a movie fee alone.

The 2 tagalog movies that I have watched this year that is worth my time and money are Die Beautiful and Kita Kita because of the reviews online and word of mouth. I confessed these are exceptionally good films helmed by the award winning director Jun Lana and  Director Sigrid Andrea Bernardo.

I am just glad that Direk Jun Lana and Producer-Director Perci Intalan formed The IdeaFirst Company and gathered the best storytellers/directors and actors under the new company.

The IdeaFirst Company recently launched their creative artists on August 15 at Hive Hotel, QC. The launch was attended by actors Cedric Juan, Adrianna So and Christian Bables and Millenial Directors headed by Sigrid Bernardo, Prime Cruz, Miko Livelo, Ivan Andrew Payawal, and Dominic Lim. 

It’s a brave new world for Philippine entertainment.  With independent films becoming mainstream blockbusters and digital shows becoming talk-of-the-town hit programs, audiences are now clamoring for fresh and innovative content.

One Philippine company that’s poised to meet this challenge is The IdeaFirst Company of award-winning writer-director Jun Robles Lana and award-winning producer-director Perci Intalan.

“ Artists are now the stars of Philippine showbiz,” says Direk Perci.  “People are now buying tickets if they see that a film has a good story   made by good storytellers performed by a good cast of actors and    actresses.  This is the new winning formula: good story + good cast.  That’s why when we formed The IdeaFirst Company the vision was to put artistry at the core of our business.”

Direk Jun recalls how the company started. “We knew we needed fresh talent – both onscreen and off-screen.  Coincidentally, at that time I gave a free screenwriting workshop called the Cine Panulat Screenwriting Lab.  From this, we invited some writers to join in our productions – first as brainstormers, then as writers, then some apprenticed as assistant directors and later became directors themselves.  Soon they were creating and even producing their own films and they get invited to local and international festivals.”

“Audiences are looking for something new,” Direk Perci adds.  “Even in Hollywood, you can see that fresh talent is key.  There are big productions that are being helmed by relatively new directors top-billed by relatively new actors.   As Jun was looking for promising creative artists, we were also watching out for exciting new performing artists.  And finally, both off and onscreen, we found the group that can best represent not just our company but this new era of Philippine entertainment.”

Indeed, The IdeaFirst Company has put together an impressive roster.   Among its creative artists is Prime Cruz (Best Director at the QCinema International Film Festival for his film Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B) Miko Livelo (writer-director of acclaimed comedies Tanods, Blue Bustamante and I Love You To Death), Ivan Andrew Payawal (writer-director of I America, which competed at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival), Dominic Lim (writer-director whose debut feature The Write Moment was selected for the 2017 QCinema International Film Festival) and Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo (writer-director of the award-winning Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita and the highest-grossing Filipino independent film Kita Kita).

In the roster of performing artists of The IdeaFirst Company is Christian Bables, the breakout star of the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival who now has Urian and MMFF Best Supporting Actor awards to his name and is one of the busiest young actors in town -- filming four movies and landing lead roles in both MMK and Magpakailanman.   Another proud addition to the IdeaFirst roster is MMFF Best Supporting Actor nominee, film and theater actor Cedrick Juan, who previously appeared in films TV shows like On The Wings of Love and plays one of the leads in the 2017 QCinema entry, The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931.  And completing the select group is young actress Adrianna So (formerly known as Malak So) who Direk Jun describes as “an exciting and unique performer who has a look, a sense of grace and a certain mystique about her that I haven’t seen in showbiz for a long time.”

With these creative and performing artists, The IdeaFirst Company is able to not only produce innovative content, it can now also act as the management company for these artists when they are engaged in projects with other production outfits, film studios and television networks.  “We believe that the key to growth is collaboration,” says Direk Perci. “Collaboration happens on multiple levels at The IdeaFirst Company.  It happens internally among the content creators.  It happens between the storytellers and our performers.  It happens externally between our team and the teams of other companies that we do projects with like Regal, Viva, Quantum and Star Cinema.”



“It’s an exciting time for all artists working in our industry, because there is an audience that’s now pushing us to do more and to do better,” adds Direk Jun.  “So both as producers and as managers, we want everyone in our team to constantly challenge themselves.  And with the roster we have, I am already quite excited for what’s coming.  It looks like we are indeed entering a new golden age of Philippine entertainment.” 

Best Actress Eugene Domingo shears you up in Barber's Tales

I am a fan of  Ms. Eugene Domingo since her Kimmy Dora days. She is the only  comedienne that would make me pee in my pants. I had no bladder control. That is how effective she is in comedy. I had an opportunity to meet her in person recently.  I had some question prepared for her but another reporter blew it away.  She gamely answered the questions that was thrown her way though.  She lose some weight and has that look befitting of a season actress. (She bagged the Best Actress Award in Tokyo).  I have watched her career as a comedienne from playing a sidekick role to a lead role.   I just felt lonely after learning that she does not have an entry for this year's MMFF, but glad that I would watch her 4 months in advance, not in a comedy flick but in a drama movie.  She told the media , she gave her 101% commitment, time, passion, tears, physical, mental, spiritual and everything in this film. "I dont mind if Barber's Tales would be my last film", she added.  Barber's Tales garnered an actress award for her at the 26th Tokyo International Film Festival. I  would just like to discover what's the buzz about the movie, to let it shift her from comedy to drama.  Barber's Tales will be showing here in Manila on August 13, 2014.

BARBER’S TALES From the creators of the internationally acclaimed film BWAKAW comes a provocative period drama about female empowerment and breaking gender barriers.

THE STORY
Barber’s Tales revolves around newly widowed Marilou who inherits the town’s only barbershop from her husband — a business that has been passed down by generations of men in her husband’s family. With no other means of support, she musters the courage to run the barbershop. Despite the skills she gained from years of observation and assisting her husband, as a female barber she fails to attract any customers. Nevertheless, things take an unexpected turn when Marilou discovers what she is truly made of -- in the midst of mockery from men, and the support of an unexpected circle of sisters.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:
 Set at the onset of martial law during the Marcos dictatorship in the 1970s, the conservative setting of Barber’s Tales provides the perfect backdrop against which I explore the social taboos and moral values of the time to tell the story of Marilou, a woman who is caught between old traditions and modern dilemmas. Recently widowed and childless, she supports herself by continuing her husband’s barbershop. But as the first female barber in a male dominated small town, her liberal views and practices are met with opposition. As the entire country is stripped of its basic rights, Marilou must find the courage to stand out and stand up for herself.

As the title suggests, Barber’s Tales is structurally a narrative made up of tales from the barbershop, vignettes about Filipino rural life held together by themes that have personal resonance, including sexuality, identity and self-liberation.

Barber’s Tales is the second in a planned trilogy set in rural Philippines. Each film is a character study about varying kinds of isolation. Bwakaw (2012) tells the story of a grumpy aging gay man who thinks that all there is to look forward to in life is death.. Mga Kuwentong Barbero (Barber’s Tales, 2013) is about a widow imprisoned  by gender expectations in the 1970s. Ama Namin (our Father, now  follows the plight of a boy who enters the seminary to be with the only family he has left: his father, who is a priest.

Prior to production, Barber’s Tales won 4 awards, including Best Project, at the 2013 HongKong Asia-Film Financing Forum, an annual project market for internationalfilmmakers and financiers.