A FILM adaptation of the Ateneo Enterteynment para sa Tao, Bayan, Lansangan at Diyos’ (Entablado) stage play, Sugod! Filemon Mamon!, was recognized as the Best Advocacy Film by the 62nd Filipino Academy of Movie, Arts and Sciences (Famas) Awards.

Famas is an organization composed of writers and movie critics that was established in 1952. It hosts an annual award show. This year’s ceremony was held on July 13 at the Solaire Resort and Casino.

Sugod! Filemon Mamon! is based on a children’s story book titled Filemon Mamon, written by Filipino Department Assistant Professor Christine Bellen.

The story was converted into a musical by Filipino Department Instructor Jethro Tenorio. Entablado held their opening night for the said play last November 19, 2013.

Over the summer, Tenorio and Bellen collaborated to rewrite the script for the movie musical adaptation and shortened the title back to its original.

Aside from Tenorio and Bellen, Entablado Coordinator Jerome Ignacio and former Entablado member Maynard de Guzman (BS ECE ‘14) were also part of the film production.

Ignacio played the titular character of the movie while de Guzman was tapped as a song composer.

Filemon Mamon was produced by Megavision, a company that specializes in making advocacy films. The movie has not yet been released to the public.

The advocacy

In an interview with The GUIDON, Tenorio said that Entablado’s staging of Sugod! Filemon Mamon! was in commemoration of Andres Bonifacio’s 150th year.

In the original story written by Bellen, the narrative focuses on proper health and nutrition alone; Bonifacio was only mentioned as a character that the protagonist wanted to play in their stage production.

Tenorio shared that one of the main challenges for him in writing the play was how to make Bonifacio more prominent.

He then decided to alter Filemon Mamon’s character into an avid fan of Bonifacio who is able to memorize and quote his works, such as “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa”, “Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog” and “Katapusang Hibik ng Filipinas.”

“In the film, we went back to the importance of health because it’s the primary intension of the book; it’s about child obesity and how we can address it,” said Tenorio in a mix of English and Filipino.

Tenorio added that the characters in the film are now set in high school instead of elementary, because the former is the film’s primary target. “Mas health-conscious na kasi [and mga bata], ‘di ba, kapag nasa adolescence na? (Children become more health-conscious in their adolescence, right?)”

He said that the film wants the viewers to recall the common misconception of Filipinos that “ang mataba ay malusog, ang malusog ay mataba (those who are fat are healthy, and those who are healthy are fat).”

Photo from Donna Sanchez

Production

Tenorio said that Bellen was initially approached by Megavision owner Donna Sanchez to create a film based on one of Bellen’s children’s books.

Tenorio explained that Sanchez had watched the Philippine Education Theater Association’s staging of Batang Rizal and intended to create a film version of it.

However, he said that Sanchez changed her mind and opted for Filemon Mamon upon watching Entablado’s stage version.

According to Tenorio, scriptwriting for the movie took around two months—more than double the time it took for him to write the play’s script.

As for the filming, Ignacio said they had six shooting days spread out over three weeks with additional days dedicated to recording songs.

“It was really a culture shock because, unlike in theater where something is always happening, there are long periods of time during movie production when you are just sitting down and waiting for the crew to set-up,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Unexpected

Tenorio, Ignacio and even the Entablado cast are grateful for the recognition.

“Nakakagulat. Sabi ko rin, nakakataba ng puso, kasi for a first timer, na-recognize agad ‘yung possibility na may bigat ‘yung sinasabi rin namin doon sa script (Surprising. It’s heart-warming, because for a first timer, it was immediately recognized that what we said in the script made an impact),” said Tenorio.

As for Ignacio, he initially thought the award was for the film’s producer, since he knew the company specialized in advocacy films.

“To be honest, ‘di ko in-expect… Nalaman ko lang sa Filemon Mamon mismo no’ng nagtapos na ‘yung gabi [ng awards show], so nagulat ako (To be honest, I didn’t expect it… I only found out that the award was for the Filemon Mamon movie itself when the awards night ended, so I was surprised),” he said.

Legal management sophomore Gabriel Marmeto, the actor who played Filemon Mamon for Entablado, is also proud of the success of both Ignacio and Tenorio.

“First of all, I feel proud about the film winning a Famas, since Sir Tenorio and Jerome [Ignacio] were pretty involved in its production… It makes me prouder and feel more privileged to have been part of this production,” he said.