“Hermano Puli”, the MMFF film starring Aljur Abrenica, will be pulled out of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).
Apparently, the biopic of one of the country’s historical figures has been hounded by funding problems. In a text message to InterAksyon, Director Gil Portes confirmed this unfortunate development . He said, “This is a sad day for me. I’ve exhausted all the possible investors for ‘Hermano Puli’. I’ll make it official by informing MMFF today.”
The film was one of the eight official entries that was announced last June 20 and would have been produced by Teamwork Productions, Director Gil Portes’ own company.
Portes had an earlier deal with Governor David Suarez of Quezon Province, who committed to finance the film. But in July, after spending for some pre-production expenses, Governor Suarez stopped his financial support for the film. Other investors who expressed their interest in funding “Hermano Puli” never really pushed through, according to a disappointed Director Portes.
Here’s the teaser of “Hermano Puli:”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7wbXP4MJhw
Now that Hermano Puli is definitely out of the film festival, it will be replaced by one of the reserve entries. The organizers will have to pick between “Honor Thy Father”, which stars John Lloyd Cruz ; and “Lakambini”, which features Lovi Poe.
Moviegoers will be treated to a mixed offering of films from the country’s biggest film producers this coming December. They can choose among the following MMFF entries: “All You Need is Pag Ibig ( Kris Aquino, Herbert Bautista, KimXi);”Beauty and the Bestie” (Vice Ganda, Coco Martin, JaDine); “Buy Now, Die Later” (Alex Gonzaga, Vhong Navarro Billy Crawford); “Haunted Mansion” (Janella Salvador, Marlo Mortel); “My Bebe Love” (Vic Sotto, Ai-Ai de las Alas, AlDub); “Nilalang” (Cesar Montano, Maria Ozawa); and “Walang Forever” (Jennylyn Mercado and Jericho Rosales).
The Metro Manila Film Festival will run from December 25 to the first week of January. This early, everyone is predicting that it will be a battle at the box-office between the Vice-Ganda starrer “Beauty and the Bestie” and the first movie that will feature the AlDub love team, “My Bebe Love”.
