Maris Racal’s ‘Sunshine’ to focus on int’l film fests before PH premiere

Maris Racal in a scene from “Sunshine.” Image: Screengrab from YouTube: Project 8 Projects

As “Sunshine” made its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September, its director Antoinette Jadaone said the film will be first submitted to other international film festivals before making its premiere in the Philippines.

“Sunshine” tells the story of a young gymnast named Sunshine (Maris Racal), whose budding career as a rhythmic gymnast on the national team was put on hold after she discovered that she was pregnant. This leads to pondering whether to keep her baby or have it aborted for her dreams.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of “Request Sa Radyo’s” gala night, Jadaone briefly disclosed that the film will first be brought to international film festivals before it will be shown to Filipino audiences.

“Wala pa kaming mabibigay na update [because] ang gusto muna namin, iikot siya sa international film festivals bago iuwi sa Pilipinas,” she said, noting that she won’t disclose the festivals where they submitted the Racal-starrer.

(We can’t give any updates yet, because we want the film to make rounds in international film festivals before bringing it home to the Philippines.)

Jadaone also shared that she’s very pleased that screenings of the film were sold at TIFF, even though it was scheduled at a time when the festival was about to be over.

“Super happy kami kasi na-sold out namin ang screenings. Tatlo lang naman siya — and we were scheduled towards the end of the festival, pero nasold out namin,” she said. “Akala ko puro Pinoy ang mga manonood but there were a lot of non-Filipinos who watched who were also affected by the film.”

(We’re super happy that the screenings were sold out. I mean, there were only three screenings and we were scheduled towards the end of the festival, but they were sold out. I thought only Filipinos will watch it, but there were a lot of non-Filipinos who watched and were also affected by the film.)

Aside from its theme, the film also made headlines after Racal wasn’t able to attend the Canada-based festival due to scheduling conflicts, as she had to shoot her upcoming series “Incognito” in Italy.

“I made a commitment kasi and the [‘Incognito’ shoot] was booked na way early this year. I appreciate naman the production and ABS-CBN. They really tried to move things around for me because they know how important TIFF is [to] me,” she told entertainment journalist MJ Felipe in a report.

“They tried to change the schedule but matagal na talagang naka-book ‘yung Italy. Doable naman sana kung sa Philippines ‘yung shoot, pero Italy kasi eh kaya maraming madadamay,” added Racal.

“Sunshine” also stars Jennica Garcia, Elijah Canlas, Xyriel Manabat, and Meryll Soriano.