Before it was called North Luzon Expressway, people referred to this major route as the North Diversion Road. This highway became the setting for the Cinema One 2005 entry, which was based on a play written by Tony Perez.
Sa North Diversion Road was one of finalists for the first Cinema One Originals digital film festival held in July 2005. In the film adaptation of the award-winning play, Irma Adlawan and John Arcilla play ten different couples in different scenes, all of them inside a car traveling northward along the North Expressway.
This digital film is divided into nine or 10 segments (with titles culled from the names of the various exit points of the highway), all of them featuring a different couple having a major argument while driving along this road. The philandering husband, caught red handed by the suffering wife, is the common denominator among all the segments. Sa North Diversion Road studies how each couple handles the situation.
Dennis Marasigan, the director of the film, is now the artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino, the resident theater company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. His wife, Irma, and John, are both highly respected actors who have successfully bridged theater, television and film. They topbill this indie film, which tackles love, infidelity, and redemption all in the span of one roadtrip.
Sa North Diversion Road has been graded "B" by the Cinema Evaluation Board. It runs for 97 minutes.
Screening dates: April 25 - May 1, 2007
Venue: IndieSine, Robinsons Galleria, EDSA cor. Ortigas Avenue, Quezon City