Scenes from the Parade

ACTRESS Mercedes Cabral and Director Brillante Mendoza of the movie “Thy Womb” during the Metro Manila Film Festival Parade of Stars at Roxas Boulevard in Manila. RICHARD A. REYES

AT LAST Sunday afternoon’s Parade of Stars, each of the eight competing entries in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) tried to outdo each other by coming up with their own gimmicks for their respective floats. But the real battle started on Christmas Day when the films—“Si Agimat, Si Enteng, at Si Ako,” “El Presidente,” “Thy Womb,” “Shake Rattle and Roll XIV,”  “One More Try,”“Sisterakas,” “The Strangers,” and “Sosy Problems”—opened in theaters nationwide, slugging it out for box-office supremacy.

For the last couple of years, comedy, horror, and action-fantasy films have dominated the MMFF.

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla is hopeful that his movie  (“Si Agimat”) with Vic Sotto and Judy Ann Santos will set new box-office records. He pointed out that Christmas has always been a holiday for the children. “Considering that fact, I guess you can say that comedy or adventure flicks like ours will have an edge,” he told the Inquirer .

DANIEL Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo of “Sisterakas” ANDREW TADALAN

Kris Aquino is likewise confident about her film’s (“Sisterakas”) box-office success, saying, “My ABS-CBN bosses previewed our film, and told us that it will definitely be No. 1 … Ayaw kong maging sobrang mayabang, pero ayaw ko rin ng false humility.”

Meanwhile, Dingdong Dantes, one of the stars of “One More Try,” said: “We can’t just all resort to doing comedies or fantasy films. It’s important that we offer

JUDY Ann Santos of “Si Agimat, Si Enteng Kabisote, at Si Ako” ARNOLD ALMACEN

them different flavors.”

Internationally-acclaimed director Brillante Mendoza, who directed the award-winning indie drama “Thy Womb,” said:  “You have an audience that wants to be

entertained and watch comedy or fantasy and all that. And we’re not that—we have a different story.  I just hope that our film can surprise us; that more people will watch and exceed my expectations.”