“It’s a movie about mothers and I play Mara,” she says. “My mom is Tami Monsod, a theatre actress who’s the daughter of Mareng Winnie Monsod. She’s a frustrated flamenco dancer so she pushes me to become one. My teacher is Clara Ramona, who’s a real Spanish Flamenco dancer. She has two sons, Biboy Ramirez and opera singer Al Gatmaitan, and it becomes a love triangle story of the three of us. The film is also about the conflict between love and your craft, which is dancing. We try to share our own culture to foreign audiences here. We have five dances, including Pandanggo sa Ilaw and Singkil done in Flamenco. The music is by Bob Aves who mixes Flamenco music with kundiman and the Maguindanao kulintang.”
The movie is written and directed by U.S.-based director Will Frodo, who has helmed Liza before in “Compound” (for which she got the International Film Festival Manhattan best actress award) and “Pagdapo ng Mariposa”. Those who’ve seen “In Nomine Matris” say she has a good chance of winning best actress in the MMFF new wave section as her role is so challenging, combining both acting and dancing like what Natalie Portman did in ‘The Black Swan’.
“It’d be great to be validated for something that you do out of passion and art,” she says. “I take acting as a serious craft and an extension of myself, so I’m just happy to be part of this film.”
Liza is a UP graduate majoring in speech and has done theatre work before joining the Mutya ng Pilipinas 2001 where she’s a runnerup. Other films she has done before are “Baliw”, “Two Timer”, “Matthew Mark Luke & John”, “Rome & Juliet” and “Mona, Singapore Escort”. She now works as a chef in Spago, a famous resto in Hollywood where famous stars usually have dinner. She moved there in 2007 and married a Fil-American guy named Ken but they called it quits early this year. They have a 4-year old daughter, Amara, who’s now with Liza in Manila to spend the Christmas holidays here. Any chance of reconciliation? “We’re too different, he grew up in the States and magkaiba talaga ang culture namin. I don’t know. We haven’t talked for a while but on our flight to Manila, siya ang naghatid sa’min ng anak namin.”
What if she’d get offers while here in Manila. “Then I’ll stay here kasi mas gusto ko naman talaga dito. In the U.S., I’m also hosting a cooking show, ‘Bb. Kusinera’, where we feature Filipino dishes suited to the American palate.”
Liza’s father is former Barangay Captain Martin Dino who was the guardian of the rape victim, Baby, in the famous Leo Echegaray case in the 90s. “In Nomine Matris” will premiere at Glorietta Cinema 3 on December 18, 7 PM, with regular showing from December 19 to 22 at Glorietta Cinema 1.
