Sinag Maynila: Gino Santos vows to scare with ‘Lila’

Young director Gino Santos has promised that his Sinag Maynila entry “Lila” will offer a unique experience.

With GMA actress Janine Gutierrez playing the titular character, together with ABS-CBN heartthrob Enchong Dee, the psychological thriller is expected to scare moviegoers.

“In the film, you have drama, you have [themes] about family… horror, suspense and psychological aspects,” Santos said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

“Lila” revolves around the story of Jess (Gutierrez), who moves into the house of her kind-hearted landlady (Sherry Lara). Finding a diary owned by an old tenant, she gets caught up in paranormal events as his cousin (Dee) tries to save her.

“It is more of mixing [old and new] generation,” said Santos. “That is why you have the character of Lola Violeta, whose habits are typical of Filipino elders, and she needs Jess, who is very youthful, very techy. She teaches Jess how to do household chores. They develop a relationship and they become friends.”

But the characters have underlying personal issues, as Santos related.

“They are carrying [emotional] baggage. They all have secrets. They all have desires. It’s up to them how they deal with the issues inside their house,” he said.

“They are all longing for something. Longing to have a child, longing to escape from a dark past,” he added.

The 26-year-old Santos is the director of youth-oriented films “The Animals” (Cinemalaya 2012) and “#Y” (Cinemalaya 2014).

“I have done horror short films before. I kind of graduated from the teen genre and I wanted to go back to my roots and explore myself as filmmaker,” he said.

Santos  hopes that “Lila” will be appreciated by the festival supporters. “I as a filmmaker and my writer try to play with the emotions [of the audience]. [We] will try to get impact from [the audience] with the score and ‘gulat’ factor.”

The Sinag Maynila Film Festival will run from April 21-26 at SM Megamall, SM Aura Premier, SM North Edsa, SM Mall Of Asia and SM Manila.

READ: ‘Diverse’ 2nd Sinag Maynila dawns this April

The other full-length features in competition are  “T.P.O.” by Joselito Altarejos, “Dyamper” by Mes de Guzman, Adolf Alix Jr.’s “Mrs.” and “Expressway” by Ato Bautista. JE

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