“Tres Marias” is a drama about a remote island where 12 to 14 year-old girls getting pregnant due to extreme poverty and ignorance is a way of life. We remember seeing this in a documentary before. Now, Raquel Villavicencio (currently seen in the villainous Donya Claudia in “Yagit”) has written a script based on this true story of babies breeding babies, to be helmed by Joel Lamangan, who wasn’t able to attend the story conference as he was rushed to the hospital due to dizziness and vertigo.
The “Tres Marias” title refer to three best friends: Maria Rosanna (Angelie Nicole Sanoy), Maria Aleta (Barbara Miguel) and Maria Suzette (Therese Malvar). All of them have won acting awards, Angelie for “Patikul”, Barbara for “Nuwebe” and Therese for “Huling Chacha ni Anita”. Angelie as Rosanna is the youngest and most innocent at 12. She’s the daughter of the barangay captain (Jim Pebanco) who’s so protective of her that she’ll rebel against him.
Barbara as Aleta is already pregnant at 13 when the story opens. She’s living in with Vincent Magbanua who’s 14. Therese as Suzette is 14 and the most sexually aware. She leaves the island to have an abortion in the city and returns with a German boyfriend in tow. Also in the cast are Sue Prado, Paolo Rivero, Ayen Laurel and new discoveries Jash Ezekiel and Juan Carlo. Playing a special role is Derrick Monasterio as a rich but aimless city boy who later helps the girls to achieve their dream of putting up a high school in their island.
“Tupang Ligaw” is an action-drama written and to be directed by komiks novelist Rod Santiago (“Agua Bendita”, “Babaeng Nawawala sa Sarili”, “Buhawi Jack”). This will star Matteo Guidicelli, the personal choice of Direk Rod because they’ve worked before in his “Agua Bendita” on ABS-CBN, as a peaceful man looking for his missing younger brother in a town controlled by a kingpin called El Diablo, played by Paolo Contis.
Also in the cast are Bangs Garcia, Rico Barrera and child actor Francis Ryan Lim.
The movie has an anti-violence message with the responsible use of guns as its advocacy. Both “Tres Marias” and “Tupang Ligaw” will be line produced by Dennis Evangelista.
Mrs. Pablita ‘Baby’ Go is the woman behind BG Productions International. How did she get into producing local movies? “Mahilig ako manood ng local movies noon pa, lalo na ‘yung kina Vilma Santos at Sharon Cuneta,” she says. “Siguro, kapalaran ko talaga ang mag-produce. Ang nagkumbinsi sa’kin is Direk Joel Lamangan and my friend Romeo Lindain na executive sa UCPB na siyang bank ko. They convinced me to produce ‘Lihis’, which is about a gay love story sa mga NPA. It’s now competing in the Miami Gay & Lesbian Filmfest. After that, we did ‘Lauriana’ na nagpanalo ng acting awards for Allen Dizon and Bangs Garcia. May two films akong di pa napalalabas, ‘Bigkis’ and ‘Homeless’, both by Neal Tan. If you’d notice, the movies I do are advocacy films with valid messages. ‘Lihis’ is about a better understanding of gays in love. ‘Lauriana’ is about violence against women. ‘Bigkis’ is about congested public hospitals while ‘Homeless’ is about typhoon victims who lose their homes at nagiging biktima ng mga sindikatong ginagawa silang pulubi.
We have two new films na katatapos lang i-shoot. ‘Child Haus’ ni Direk Louie Ignacio is about poor children from the provinces battling cancer, starring Katrina Halili and very talented child stars. ‘Daluyong’ is about lonely priests na nagkakasala dahil mga tao rin lang sila, starring Allen Dizon and Diana Zubiri. Now, we have ‘Tres Marias’ tungkol sa mga batang ina at ‘Tupang Ligaw’ which is anti-violence.”
A successful real estate broker, Mrs. Go is from Dumaguete and was only 15 years old when she married her Chinese husband who’s 21 years older than her. They have three daughters and one son. “Yung eldest ko, Jean, is graduate ng La Salle and now works as a hotel manager.
She’s married with kids. Next is Joy, cum laude from St. Scho, married na rin and a bank manager. The third, Pamela, is a med tech from Centro Escolar and the youngest at 17, our only boy, Philip, is taking up business at UA&P. My husband and my children are all very supportive of my being a film producer. Masaya kasi ako rito.”
But does she get back her investment? “Oo naman. When we start a project, we coordinate with the networks para sure nang bibilihin nila ang TV rights. Like ‘Child Haus’, ‘Bigkis’ and ‘Tres Marias’, sa GMA ‘yan kasi we’re using their stars. ‘Homeless’ naman and ‘Tupang Ligaw’ is with ABS as they star Ejay Falcon and Matteo Guidicelli. Ang primary target namin for ‘Tres Marias’ is to get into an international filmfestival kasi very daring ang subject material at tipong hindi gagawin ng mainstream films.”
