‘Lumpia’ film duo launches Kickstarter drive to fund sequel
Kickstarter poster for “Lumpia.”
LOS ANGELES—Ten years after their successful cult indie film “Lumpia” hit theaters and film festivals, writer/director Patricio Ginelsa and editor/producer A.J. Calomay announced on August 10 that they will be shooting the sequel “Lumpia 2.”
That is if they can raise $50,000 through a Kickstarter “crowdsourcing” campaign. With 12 days left in the campaign, the project has received only 176 backers and $16,866.
The award-winning filmmakers were behind the Black Eyed Peas’ music videos such as the “APL Song,” “Bebot” and Fil-Am rapper Bambu’s “Old Man Raps.”
Named after the popular Filipino egg roll, the first “Lumpia” movie is the story of James or Mon Mon, a young Filipino boy fresh off the boat, fighting against Tyrone, a bossy and more established immigrant, for the love of a girl. He meets a protector, Kuya the Silent Avenger, who fights his foes using the beloved Pinoy egg roll.
When Ginelsa and Calomay first shot Lumpia in the streets of Daly City, they didn’t think that their “ultimate home-made” film would take off.
But after its debut in 2003, the film gained a cult following and caught the attention of Hollywood with Variety Magazine calling Lumpia “a youth project that got delightfully out of hand.”
Rewards for contributing to “Lumpia 2.”
With a working title “Lumpia 2,” the sequel will take place 15 years after the events of the original film. Here’s the synopsis from the Kickstarter page:
“A Filipino syndicate has united all the different street gangs, controlling all the underground activity of Fogtown. Kuya the Silent Avenger is on a mission to stop the flow of drugs infiltrating his old high school, and soon finds out that the key to stopping them requires him to team up with the two most unlikely partners, former rivals Tyrone and Mon Mon. The problem is that Mon Mon has a wedding to go to and Tyrone isn’t exactly acting like the Tyrone we know. Conflict, romance and FOB (fresh-off-the–boat) bashing dominated the first film. In this sequel, we get to see how these characters have grown after high school.”
According to Calomay, the sequel will be “an action-comedy, thriller, gangster-flick with sci-fi elements all mashed up. Filled with the same silly humor, charm and comic-book superhero stylings of the original, “Lumpia 2” will distinguish itself with “beefed up action choreography, visual effects and much more sleek cinematography.”
The filmmakers stress the importance of making this project for the Filipino-American community.
“These are the types of films that can only be made by us. There’s a need for more Filipino-American stories and movies in our community,” Ginelsa said. This campaign will hopefully help build and prove that there is indeed an audience out there for the movies we want to make.”
For more info about this project, visit their website or go to their Kickstarter page.
https://variety.com/2004/film/reviews/lumpia-1200537070/
https://www.lovethatlumpia.com/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kidheroes/lumpia-2-the-movie-sequel-action-comedy
