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| NUUK presscon at Discovery Suites |
ALICE DIXSON is happy to be reunited with Aga Muhlach in Viva’s newest release, “Nuuk”, which was filmed on location in distant Nuuk, the capital of icy Greenland in the most northern part of Denmark. So how is it working with Aga again?
“It’s great! It always feels good to reconnect with a good actor like him!” she says. “The first time we got to work together was in ‘Hot Summer’ in 1989 with Gabby Concepcion, directed by Mel Chionglo, then followed by ‘Joeyboy Munti, Batang Ama’, his comeback solo drama with Regal in 1991 directed by Maryo de los Reyes.
"We were just in our early 20s then. The last film we did together was ‘Sinungaling Mong Puso’, with Vilma Santos, in 1992, also by Direk Maryo J. Mas mature na kami ngayon. Pareho na kaming 50 years old and we’re both older and wiser.”
She plays a very complex character named Elaisa Svendsen in “Nuuk”, a psychological drama directed by Veronica Velasco.
“My character has depression and she meets Aga in the story. Later, she doesn’t know if she really met Aga after he vanished or she just made him up in her imagination. It’s not difficult for me to relate with my character as I also experienced depression when I first moved to Canada, whose very cold climate is similar to Greenland.
"It’s always dark and since you lack sunlight, you become vitamin D deficient, which could lead to mild depression. But this is seasonal as you’re affected by long winters that deepen your feelings of sadness, which is why Greenland is said to have the highest suicide rate in the world.”
But her depression quickly went away when summer came and the sun was back. “Winter can really cause melancholy, you become moody. But the sun cheers you up again.”
She moved to Canada in 1998 after she married Ronnie Miranda, but their marriage ended 15 years later and she decided to return home to Manila and resume her showbiz career. In “Nuuk”, she plays a Pinay married to a Danish guy.
“Elaisa has been living in Greenland since she was in her early 20s. The movie opens after the death of her husband and she spirals downward into depression. It doesn’t help that she has a troubled relationship with her only son, Karl, played by Warneq Fleischer, a Filipino theater actor who’s based in Denmark. Then, just as everything starts to fall apart, she meets Aga as Mark Alvarez, a Filipino businessman who helps her cope with her woes.”
Alice says the most difficult part of shooting in Nuuk is its subzero weather. “Ako, sanay sa lamig dahil sa Canada, but the crew members working with us, hindi. For some of them, it was their first time to be in such freezing weather with its icy wind chill factor.”
Alice assures the viewers that they will experience a different kind of movie in “Nuuk”. “Maganda at naiiba ang location with its snow capped mountains, but the story in itself is something that will intrigue them.”
Alice is now also busy being a vlogger. She makes her own videos for her youtube channel. “It’s doing okay and I’m happy na I have loyal followers naman. I’m trying to highlight our beautiful places here to help Filipino tourism. I want to thank all those who make comments in my vlog. Negative or positive, naaaliw akong basahin sila. Kahit criticism, okay lang sa’kin kasi it helps me to do better for my vlog.”