Aga Muhlach: My restored films will be my legacy

Aga Muhlach (right) and Ricky Davao

Now that a number of his films in the 1990s are being restored, actor Aga Muhlach said he would soon start collecting copies for his personal library.

“Where do they store films nowadays, still in DVDs?” he quipped. The actor was with his wife, former beauty queen and actress Charlene Gonzalez, when he attended the premiere of his restored 21-year-old psychological thriller “Sa Aking Mga Kamay” at the Powerplant Mall in Makati City on Tuesday night.

“I’m going to request for copies of my films that have been restored. The collection will be a legacy I will leave to my children,” said Aga, adding that his twins Atasha and Andres, 15, did not attend the screening because the film had been given an R-16 rating by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

According to ABS-CBN head of Film Archive and Restoration Leo Katigbak, eight of Aga’s films have been restored, including “Sana Maulit Muli,” with Lea Salonga; “Basta’t Kasama Kita,” with Dayanara Torres; “All My Life,” with Kristine Hermosa; and “Kung Ako na Lang Sana,” with Sharon Cuneta.

“Watching these films has inspired me to do more. Before, there was no opportunity to see them,” the 47-year-old actor pointed out. “I used to see my movies only during premiere nights. At least now, I could get copies.”

Aga, who was last seen in Joyce Bernal’s “Of All the Things,” released in 2012, said he would begin shooting another film with Star Cinema this June.

Released in 1996, Rory B. Quintos’ “Sa Aking mga Kamay,” tells the story of a serial killer named Gene (Aga), who preys on unfaithful wives. The plot thickens when Gene’s latest victim turns out to be Camille (Chin-Chin Gutierrez), wife of Joven (Christopher de Leon), who leads the investigation of his case.

Christopher said ABS-CBN’s film restoration project would “benefit the millennials. It’s good that they would have an opportunity to watch these classics that are still relevant up to this time.”

Aga Muhlach

Also present during the screening were members of the movie’s production team, namely editor Albert Michael Idioma, musical director Nonong Buencamino, cinematographer Romy Vitug, and writer Ricky Lee.

“We’re thankful that not only are old films restored because of this effort, but also us old people,” Lee said, laughing. “I can’t remember much about the film so I’m excited to see it again tonight.”

“Sa Aking mga Kamay” is the opening film of the weeklong exhibition of digitally restored and remastered movies in “REELive the Classics” that ends on April 12 at the Power Plant Mall cinemas in Makati City.

Also part of the festival are Romy Suzara’s “Kokey,” which is celebrating its 20th anniversary; Olivia Lamasan’s “Sana Maulit Muli”; Jose Javier Reyes’ “Kung Ako na Lang Sana”; Rory Quintos’ “Basta’t Kasama Kita”; Laurenti Dyogi’s “All My Life”; Antonio Perez’s “Haplos”; Carlos Siguion-Reyna’s “Hihintayin Kita sa Langit”; Reyes’ “Batang PX”; Peque Gallaga’s “Magic Temple”; and Jerry Lopez Sineneng’s “Labs Kita… Okey Lang?”

The festival is part of ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project’s advocacy dubbed “Sagip Pelikula,” which aims to preserve Philippine cinematic legacy by locally restoring classic Filipino films and making them available to the general public via different platforms.

The project has restored over 120 films since it began in 2011, mostly together with Central Digital Lab.