Cornejo returns with ‘Apocalypse Child’

SID LUCERO

Mario Cornejo returns to filmmaking with “Apocalypse Child,” an entry to this year’s Quezon City International Film Festival or QCinema. How different is the movie from his previous films?

Cornejo replies, “It isn’t ‘Big Time’—a crime comedy and my homage to movies. In ‘Apocalypse Child,’ finding the honesty in each moment was more important than finding the humor.”

In the film produced by Arkeofilms and Skinny People Productions, Sid Lucero portrays Ford, a surfing instructor in Baler who’s told that he is the son of ‘Apocalypse Now’ director, Francis Ford Coppola!

Mario shares, “I chose Sid because he’s amazing. I remember watching his first film, ‘Donsol,’ where he was very good. He seems to get better every time I see him—from ‘Selda’ to ‘Norte: Hangganan ng Kasaysayan.’”

Why should people watch this latest film? He discloses, “I asked my actors for an immense amount of trust—because the movie has nudity and sex scenes, drug use and characters behaving reprehensibly. I wanted them to believe that I wouldn’t exploit them. More than that, I asked them to be emotionally vulnerable—and everyone rose to the challenge!

The 40-year-old DLSU graduate confesses, “Monster (Jimenez, his creative and life partner) finished the documentary, ‘Kano,’ five years ago, then started trying to have a child—Andres was born two years later. He’s one of the reasons why I felt I had to do ‘Apocalypse Child’—all the anxieties I have about being a father are in the film.”

“Apocalypse Child” will be screened on Oct. 23 and 26 at Gateway; Oct. 24, 25 and 29, Galleria, and Oct. 30 at Trinoma.