‘About Us But Not About Us’

Romnick Sarmenta (left) and Elijah Canlas in “About Us But Not About Us”

(We are running this guide to help you plan your summer moviegoing activity. The 1st Summer Metro Manila Film Festival runs from April 8 to April 18)

Written and directed by Jun Robles Lana; starring Romnick Sarmenta and Elijah Canlas; produced by Octoberain Films, The IdeaFirst Company and Quantum Films

A literature professor (Sarmenta) meets his student (Canlas) at a restaurant. Over the course of one meal, secrets and lies will be unearthed and the sinister connection to a suicide will be revealed.

Personal

“Like most of us during the pandemic, I just got to a point when I really needed to vent. So I turned to the one thing that has always saved me—writing. I first thought of writing a journal, but the screenwriter in me still prevailed,” Lana said. “This is so personal that it only took me three days to finish. It’s a story that I really wanted to tell because, literally, this movie—its process and journey—has healed and saved me in more ways than one. Usually, I make films for my audience, but for this particular project, I just wanted to share myself.”

The movie won for Lana the best director honor at the 2022 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia.

When Sarmenta got the offer to do Eric, he said he was given very few details about his character. “I just knew that it would be a conversation between two actors at a single location and that it will run for an hour and a half,” he began. “When we did the first read-through, I decided to simply go along for the ride. I don’t know if Direk Jun was aware of this, but there were some parts when I caught myself getting teary-eyed while reading. That’s when I realized how good the piece was. I’ve been in this industry for 46 years. It’s one of the ways I personally gauge if scripts are good.” —Marinel Cruz