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‘AT my
age and size, do you think mainstream producers would
get me for a lead role? They won’t. That’s why I am
thankful there are films like Foster Child. This
is what I call pang-kaluluwa [for the soul],”
says Cherry Pie Picache, who plays Aling Thelma, a
foster parent living in the slums.
Written
by Ralston Jover (Kubrador) and directed by Brillante
Mendoza, Foster Child was shown in May at the
Director’s Fortnight in the 60th Cannes International
Film Festival. Picache said in an earlier interview that
days after the screening, strangers on the streets
approached her, congratulating her moving performance. A
couple of months later, she bagged the Best Actress
Award at the Osians Cinefan Film Festival in New Delhi.
It was
her second international citation as a film actress. In
2006 she also won the Best Actress plum at the Durban
International Film Festival in South Africa for her role
as Susan, the lesbian in an earlier Jover work,
Kaleldo.
“I never
thought I’d win an award in the international circuit.
I’d be a hypocrite if I tell you that I didn’t want one
or two,” she enthuses before breaking into a volley of
laughter, “but it’s the triumph of all Filipino actors
in a foreign land that I’m most proud of.”
Her
sense of national pride is brought about by Gina
Pareño’s earlier recognition as Best Actress in
France
and Russia for her role as jueteng bet collector in
Jeffrey Jetturian’s Kubrador.
Of
course, Pareño and Picache don’t consider themselves
has-beens in the local mainstream film circuit, and
neither do their admirers who know the difference
between acting and Keanna Reeves. Seriously, even the
likes of Kris Aquino can’t imagine Picache teaming up
with Aga Muhlach in, say, A Love Story.
“Artistically, the craft is different when I did
Foster Child. Like I’ve said before, all that I
learned in my 17 years in the business, I set them aside
and it felt like starting all over again.”
Mendoza
used the real-time approach in crafting the movie, which
is why its audience will no doubt feel like they’re
watching a documentary. It was shot for about 15 days in
an economically challenged community in Santa Mesa,
Manila. Prior to that, Picache had to go on a
familiarization tour for three days in the said area.
“What
surprised me the most was the genuine affection the
foster parents have for the orphans under their care.
They have a family of their own and taking care of a
stranger is hard. All together, the whole family takes
care of the foster child. They live in miserable
conditions. Yet, though they are poor, they are capable
of loving someone who they know will only be with them
for a short while. I salute them.”
She
finds it ironic that those who have more material things
in life are the ones avoiding such opportunities. “They
are too busy with their work or their businesses but if
you think about it, members of the middle- and
upper-class here are the ones more capable of being
foster parents,” she laments.
In the
film, Thelma only receives P1,500 allowance a month,
plus diapers, milk and other baby essentials, from a
nongovernment organization (NGO) that commissioned her
to be a foster parent. She has a biological child (Jiro
Maño) and a husband (Dan Alvaro) who has no stable job.
Comedian
Eugene Domingo plays the caring and calm social worker
from the NGO, called Kaisahang Buhay Foundation. She
regularly deals with the likes of Aling Thelma.
Jover
says that when he was writing the story, he visited a
real-life foster parent whom he befriended. Even during
the actual shoot, he kept on visiting his subject and
making last-minute revisions to make the film as
realistic as a documentary.
When it
opened this year’s Cinemalaya International Film
Festival, many thought it would be the only run in the
local circuit. Some were content to just wait for the
DVD copy. Foster Child is going to be screened at
the
Montreal
and Pusan international film festivals from September to
October. The better news, however, is that Foster
Child will be shown in commercial theaters
nationwide starting September 12.
“I hope
many Filipinos will patronize indie films like Foster
Child. If it earns well, then it will be easy to
produce another. And many indie filmmakers will follow.
It’s for the growth of the local film industry,” says
Cherry Pie.
Asked if
it crossed her mind to direct an indie, she readily
answers, “No, never. Maybe to produce. It’s either I
will act or I will produce.”
And with
her caliber proven here and abroad, size and age will
never matter. |
