JULIA BARRETTO can currently be seen in the horror movie “Bahay na Pula”, now streaming on Vivamax, and next month, she’ll be in the new Vivamax youth oriented original series, “The Seniors”.
Her co-stars are Ella Cruz, Awra Briguela, Andrea Babierra, Gab Lagman and Andrei Yllana.
This starts airing on March 20, as produced by the formidable team of Dan Villegas and Antoniette Jadaone, and it’s the directorial debut of award-winning short filmmaker, Shaira Advincula-Antonio.
“This is my second series for Viva after ‘Di Na Muli’,” says Julia.
“It’s about Gen Z students in the province, Pacaque Rural High School. I play Diana, a city girl from Manila na lumipat sa province at yun, she’s a game changer kaya na-threaten sa akin yung mean girls doon sa school and hina-harass nila ako.
"But off cam, nag-bonding kami agad. Na-attached ako kay Awra and Ella is really so thoughtful, si Andrea naman, I have a soft spot for newcomers and she's really great. Sana may Season 2 kami."
In real life, did she experience being bullied in school?
"No. My mom requested me to finish high school and I did, pero sa home study program ako, e. But here, we portray bullying situations na nangyayari talaga in schools."
The mean girls in "The Seniors" are called The Certifieds, as led by Ella as Jennifer, the school’s student council president; former Pop Girl Andrea Babierra from Lucban, Quezon as the school muse, Nicole; and Awra Briguela as the gay volleyball team captain Fifi.
Being consistently in the star section, the three of them feel entitled and believe that they are elite students who should should stick together no matter what. But with the arrival of the smart and pretty Julia, their friendly relationship will be threatened.
We ask Julia how is it being directed by a new director like Shaira.
“She’s very young, only 25 years old, pareho lang kaming Gen Z, so we can easily relate with each other,” she says. “She’s great, a bad ass, I wanna work with her again. She knows the material about high school life and young viewers can easily relate with what the characters go through in the series.”
Shaira Advincula-Antonio is a film major who graduated from UP in 2018.
She’s an award-winning short filmmaker from South Cotabato whose recent work “Tembong” has already traveled to international short film festivals including: Guanajuato International Film Festival in Latin America, International Inter-University Short Film Festival in Bangladesh, and Short Cut Film Festival in Serbia.
Here in the Philippines, “Tembong” won the Best Short Film Award in the 2019 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Gawad Urian Awards. “The Seniors” is her first TV series.
Experience the highs and lows of growing up, the pains and joys of your last year in high school in “The Seniors” starting March 20, streaming online on VIVAMAX Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Macau, Vietnam, Brunei, Maldives, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, the Middle East and Europe. And get the best VIVAMAX viewing quality with TV casting.
