Half-Brazilian, half-Japanese model Akihiro Sato will be
introduced in the indie film titled Handumanan
(Remembrance). This project came just
a few months after appearing as one of the ten Celebrity
Centerfolds of Cosmopolitan's
Cosmomen supplement released last September.
Chin Chin Gutierrez and Jason Abalos topbill the film, which is being shot on
location in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. The film is about three people who seem
to have lost hope of their worlds until their fateful encounter in a resort in
Negros Oriental.
Chin Chin plays a romance novelist named Solita Locsin a.k.a. Soledad Miranda who
cannot accept her publisher's demand that she write erotic pocketbooks. When she is diagnosed with a terminal
illness, she decides to quit her job and go back home to Dumaguete.
Jason Abalos is Alejandro Tan a.k.a. Lean. He wants to be a writer but he is
trapped in his job at the Commission on Audit after finishing accountancy upon
the wish of his mother. He also wants to
escape from a world that has been harsh to his family.
Carlos Silva (Akihiro) is a Brazilian print ad model who is searching for his
roots. He uses his blog to connect with people all over the world. After Sol finds out about blogging from her
niece, she makes use of this new tool to continue writing. Intrigued with her writing, Carlos finds her
blog on the Internet and expresses his wish to meet her personally. Meanwhile, Lean is assigned to audit in
Dumaguete but his escapist attitude leads him to Sol, whose romance novels play
a significant role in his life.
The script of Handumanan is co-written
by Richard Soriano Legaspi and Seymour Barros Sanchez, who is more popularly known as Meyor. Their script was selected during the 3rd Produire au Sud Film Workshop, which is part
of the sixth World Film Festival Bangkok. The National Commission for Culture
and the Arts (NCCA) provided the filmmakers with a P500,000 grant, allowing the
film to premiere in February 2009 in time for the celebration of National Arts
Month. Red Room Productions will also co-produce the film.
Seymour is an instructor at the University of Makati Center for Performing and Digital Arts, a special lecturer at St. Paul University Manila, and founder and adviser of the University of Makati Film Society while Richard is a part-time instructor at the University of the East College of Fine Arts in Caloocan.