Scene from “Siglo ng Kalinga”
They just had to be oriented on the technicals of filmmaking,” said producer Carl E. Balita of Lem Lorca’s “Siglo ng Kalinga,” which features real-life nurses, who first underwent a five-day acting workshop and were later given roles depending on the competencies they showed in acting.
“The greatest challenge was how to make them act naturally. Put them bedside, and they may know what to do. The difference is when the camera is rolling and aesthetic requirements of production. Emotions will have to be somehow controlled and directed. However, to our surprise, they all did well during the acting workshop, which was a major preproduction element,” Balita told Inquirer Entertainment during a recent virtual chat.
The workshop was facilitated by award-winning actress Angeli Bayani of Meisner Studio Manila. “We decided where they would fit in during the workshop. Why will I put a spotlight on known actors in the industry when I can use my money to shine a spotlight on colleagues who deserve to be there?” Balita pointed out.
“There was this girl who had always wanted to be an actress, but her parents said she could only go to Manila if she took up nursing so that’s what she did. In the process, she trained for acting. She joined the theater and went to auditions and go-sees. She attended acting workshops. She never had big roles, but she has had the same training as Angeli. We saw potential in her. Now, she is playing the lead role. I’m talking about Trechelle Joy Ras,” Balita shared with Inquirer Entertainment.
“It was only when Joy was given the role did she say, ‘Now I understand why I am a nurse. I worked 17 years for this role.’ This could be her break,” Balita added.
He then talked about another cast member, Tads Obach, “who appeared in a number of films and is quite a familiar face. He never had a big role, but he is also a nurse.” Obach also plays lead in “Siglo ng Kalinga.”
A tribute to nurses
In the film, based on a screenplay by Archie del Mundo, Ras plays Anna Formantes who strives to uphold the personal and professional values of Anastacia Giron-Tupas, the visionary who founded the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA).
It is a tribute to nurses as they commemorate the profession’s 100th founding anniversary in the Philippines. To provide context, Balita recalled the June 2006 nursing licensure exam leakage scandal. “I wanted to contribute to the positive imaging of nursing in the Philippines by producing ‘Nars’ (by Adolfo Alix Jr.) in 2007. This time, we acknowledge the significance of the nursing profession’s 100th year, as well as the power of film to immortalize celebrations and capture history,” said Balita, who is a nurse himself.
Balita, Lorca and Del Mundo also worked on the advocacy film “Maestra” in 2015. “I tapped these two because this is another tribute to another group and I was happy with the outcome of ‘Maestra,’ which won awards. I see Direk Lem and Archie as people who deserve our trust and the opportunity we can give,” he pointed out.
“I just hope show biz is more supportive,” said Balita, who later added that the film was submitted, but failed to make the cut at the recent Summer Metro Manila Film Festival.
“If the organizers were looking for films that matter, they should have given this one a chance. Don’t you want families of people who died of COVID-19 to at least see what happened on the inside? Do you regard as filmmaking only products that will make us feel kilig? I’m not saying that something was wrong with the films chosen. I’m just saying that, maybe, it’s time to revisit the criteria.”
Producer Carl Balita
Balita said that while he was aware that none of the film’s actors is big enough to give it commercial value, “rest assured that I do have a captive market for this. Nursing is the biggest course in the country [in terms of the number of students]. I will make sure that this is going to be watched by our target market. And when you watch this, I guarantee that you will love the nurses who took care of you since you were young.”
Balita swore that he wasn’t doing films for the money, but because he wanted to watch stories of real people. “Here, there is a senior citizen who went back in the frontline to serve because she was needed. You don’t close your eyes and imagine a superhero in briefs or with a cape. Nurses are heroes without the cape,” he said.
“Siglo ng Kalinga,” coproduced by Carl Balita Productions and the PNA, will have a special screening on April 24 and will be shown in theaters nationwide starting May 3. INQ