Image: Screen grab via Facebook/@billieandemma
If you’ve ever wondered how TV commercials would look like with LGBTQ+ representation, look no further than a teaser for the film “Billie and Emma.”
The indie film is directed by Samantha Lee, whose directorial debut was “Baka Bukas,” a romantic drama about a lesbian who falls for her best friend.
The teaser, shared on Sunday, Oct. 7, re-creates the ’90s Tender Juicy commercial made famous by Chantal Umali, who played a girl smitten with her classmate Carlo (Patrick Garcia). As she pines for Carlo, she happily munches a hot dog.
Lee’s version features schoolgirl Emma (Gabby Padilla), who plays the game of “she loves me/she loves me not” while eating a hotdog on a stick. There’s no boy in sight; instead, one sees her staring at her schoolmate (Zar Donato) with a boyish haircut from across the cafeteria.
“I’ve talked a lot about the lack of proper LGBTQ+ representation in media while I was growing up. That is why we decided to re-imagine a bit of the past and explore what it would have looked like to have a television commercial that encouraged people to be themselves and to love whoever they wanted to love,” Lee explained on Instagram.
“Billie and Emma” will be released in QCinema, Quezon City’s film festival held from Oct. 21 to 30. The film is part of the Circle Competition, which provides P1.5 million in production grants to new and veteran homegrown filmmakers. /ra
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