Their latest movie is "Anino sa Likod ng Buwan", the story of an unusual love triangle involving a rebel couple (LJ Reyes and Anthony Falcon) and a soldier (Luis Alandy). It has already been accepted in the Karlovy Vary Inernational Filmfest at the Czech Republic in July and will be competing in three more festivals abroad. Also in the works is "Die Beautiful", which got a grant from the Hongkong International Filmfest and will star Paolo Ballesteros as a gay who, upon dying, wants to be made up to look like Lady Gaga during his wake.
For TV5, they are producing two new shows: "LolaBasyang.com" and "ParangNormal Activity".
"LolaBasyang" is an updated version of the classic Severino Reyes' anthology of stories for children with Boots Anson Roa as Lola B, the Lola Basyang of the new generation. The first episode is "Maria Makiling" with Jasmine Curtis Smith in the title role, opposite Rodjun Cruz and Carlos Agassi. The second episode is "Magic Flute" with Vin Abrenica, Valeen Montenegro and Yna Asistio, originally written by Severino Reyes. "ParangNormal Activity" is a horror-comedy about three young people researching on occult happenings not knowing their third member, Ella Cruz, is actually a ghost. This will start airing on July 11.
IdeaFirst has set up its own office at Sct. de Guia St. and has now its own young and talented personnel recruited from the 10-week screenwriting workshop conducted by Jun and Perci. These are Prime Cruz and Jenilee Chuaunsu (who are now directing an entry for the OC Filmfest), Ivan Payawal (who has an entry in Cinema One Originals), Dominic Lim (who got a grant from the FDCP), Miko Livelo (director of Cinema One's "Blue Bustamante"), Ash Malanum (best screenplay winner at Cine Panulat Workshop) and Petersen Vargas (who's doing a short film for Cinemalaya.)
Although he's very much identified in the indiefilm scene, Jun Lana continues to do mainstream works. He's currently directing two new movies for Mother Lily, the teen horror flick intended for the Metro Filmfest, "Haunted Manzhion" starring Janella Salvador, and the romcom to be filmed in New York, "Pre-Nup" starring Jennylyn Mercado and Sam Milby. Jun and Perci are both visionaries who are cooking up more revolutionary content for other platforms.
"It's time to broaden our horizons and think out of the box because of the new technologies and new audiences we now have," says Perci. "But whatever the platform is, the bottom line is you should first have a good idea that you can develop into a good story and later, as a good show."
