Gabby Padilla at Arisa Nakano
DESERVING manalong best actress si Gabby Padilla sa 2024 Cinemalaya Film Festival para sa pelikulang “Kono Basho” (This Place).
Natural na natural at convincing ang akting niya sa pelikula bilang isang Filipina anthropologist na si Ella na nagtungo sa Rikuzentakata, Japan para sa lamay ng kanyang estranged father na si Emman.
Doon nakilala at nakasama rin niya ang kanyang half-sister na Japanese, si Reina na ginagampanan naman ni Arisa Nakano.
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Kinunan ang kabuuan ng “Kono Basho” sa Rikuzentakata City sa Japan kung saan naging bahagi rin ng kuwento ang naganap na lindol at tsunami sa lugar noong 2011.
Ang nasabing pelikula ay isinulat at idinirek ni Jaime Pacena II kasama ang blockbuster director na si Dan Villegas bilang cinematographer.
Nakachikahan namin si Gabby bago magsimula ang Gala Night para sa “Kono Bosho”, ilang araw bago naganap ang Cinemalaya XX awards night kung saan itinanghal nga siyang best actress.
Puring-puri si Gabby ng mga nakapanood ng movie pati na rin ng kanyang co-stars, “That’s really yung guidance po ni Direk Dan saka ni Direk Jaime. Anything that they put their minds to, they really are able to create great film, tell a great story.
“So I have to give the credit to them, too. Kasi sila talaga yung nag-guide sa akin,” aniya.
Tungkol naman sa naging experience niya sa pagsu-shoot sa Japan, “Kakaiba ang experience na ito, kasi mixed yung crew and yung cast, Hapon and Filipino.
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“So nakakatuwa, kasi kahit na hindi kami nagkakaintindihan all the time, naka-build kami ng community and nakapag-connect pa rin kami.
“Kasi we really love the material and we wanted to give our best, so yun. So naka-build kami ng family doon,” sey ng aktres.
Halos lahat daw ng eksena niya sa “Kono Basho” ay challenging, “Yung buong nature po kasi nung film, yung grief niya, so mahirap siya talaga.
“As someone who has dealt with it in her personal life, mahirap lang because I had to revisit my own feelings na baka hindi pa nag-heal. So, kinailangang humugot dun. So, that was the challenge for me,” lahad ng aktres.
Relate much din daw siya sa kuwento, “Nu’ng nabasa ko po siya, medyo tumagos siya sa akin. Kasi may sister din ako, and the film is about the sisters going through the loss of their father together.
“And that’s something that I’ve experienced with my own sister. So, siguro yun po siya,” dagdag ni Gabby.
Paano nakaapekto ang pag-portray niya sa movie bilang Ella ang mga pinagdaanan niya noong mamatay ang kanyang tatay?
“I think tumulong naman siya in giving me a perspective of what Ella must have been through. And I guess it also helped give it depth. Kasi that’s something na you have to go through, I think, grief.
“I think it really changes a person, and pag nawalan ka, you kinda live your life through that lens na. So I think having gone through that really helped tell the story a little bit more,” sabi pa ng aktres.
Kasama rin sa cast ng naturang Cinemalaya 2024 entry sina Reiko Kataoka, Satoshi Nikaido, Sheryl Ichikawa, Sho Yakumaru, Meanne Espinosa, Daday Bustamante, Junichi Hasegawa, Masatoshi Konno, Shigeo Moriyama at Shinichi Murakami.
Ang executive producers ng “Kono Basho” ay sina Jim Baltazar, Dan Villegas, Antoinette Jadaone, Reign Anne de Guzman, at John Bryan Diamante ng Mentorque.