...the Disney's Filipino animated film

New Pixar short makes history featuring Filipino animated characters for first time


ABC7
30 October 2019 


October marks Filipino American History Month, and Pixar made a bit of history by featuring Filipino CGI animated characters for the first time in a new film.

"Float" is a film about acceptance. In it, a father discovered his adorable son was unlike other kids. The film followed their trials and tribulations.

Pixar writer/producer Bobby Rubio talked to Action News about his project.

"It's based on my own personal story of my son," he explained. "In the story, the father is dealing with a son that floats, which makes him different from other children."

"Float" was seen as a chance to celebrate children with unique gifts.

Rubio said he took a feature-based approach to make the characters Filipino American. The father has darker skin and a flatter nose.

"I know we don't all look alike, but at the same time, I wanted traits that I had so that it at least felt authentic," he said.

The characters were actually animated versions of himself and his son. Rubio has long looked for ways to introduce his culture to a wider audience, and Pixar offered that opportunity.

"As a Filipino-American and it being Filipino History Month, I am super proud that this is coming out, and we are making history," he said.

We can't tell you how the seven-minute short ends, but it is a heart-warming story.

When "Float" was introduced at a special screening, the first-time director was able to gauge the crowd's response.

"To see the people react to certain times that you wanted them to react was amazing, and I totally loved it," Rubio recalled.

"Float" is one of four Pixar SparkShorts, which will be featured on the new Disney+ app when it is launched on Nov. 12.

...the Busan Asia Content awardee

Maja Salvador lone Filipino winner at Asia Contents Awards in Busan 

Manila Standard
08 October 2019


Actress and Star Magic artist Maja Salavador bagged the first-ever Best Actress award for drama in the 1st Asia Contents Awards held in Busan, South Korea, for her portrayal of the lead character in the hit TV series, Wildflower. 



Maja, who is also the lone winner from the Philippines, portrayed the role of Lily Cruz who changed her identity to Ivy Aguas, a feisty young woman out to avenge her parents’ death and fight the oppression brought by the cruel and corrupt Adriente clan.

The actress and her show were the only nominees from the Philippines as Wildflower was also nominated in the Best Drama category.  


Wildflower competed with other outstanding Asian TV series from South Korea, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

The 1st Asia Contents Awards recognized the region’s finest TV dramas that were produced in the last five years. It is organized by the renowned film festival Busan International Film Festival and Asian Film Market, an annual film market in South Korea.


Wildflower has begun airing in three French-speaking countries, including New Caledonia, Polynesia, and Reunion Islands, with the recent partnership of ABS-CBN with Ampersand fiction, a French content distributor and will soon air in Madagascar this October with ABS-CBN’s deal with Startimes.

...the Venice Film Fest awardee

Filipino film ‘Verdict’ wins special jury prize at Venice film fest

Gabriela Baron

Manila Bulletin

08 September 8, 2019

A Filipino film that tackles domestic abuse has won the Special Jury Prize at the 76th Venice Film Festival.

Verdict (Photo courtesy of La Biennale di Veneza / MANILA BULLETIN)

The Brillante Mendoza picture was the sole film from Southeast Asia that made it to the prestigious film festival this year.

The film also premiered at the 44th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 5.

...the PH top grossing film of all time

How Hong Kong-set ‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’ became the Philippines’ top-grossing film of all time

• The film, which was also shot in the city, is the tale of a domestic worker and a playboy bartender, both Filipinos, who fall in love
• Experts and fans say it captures the lives of overseas Filipino workers, who finally feel seen after often being regarded as invisible in their daily jobs

Crystal Tai
South China Morning Post 
08 September 2019

Hello, Love, Goodbye is the hit film about the romance between a millennial

domestic worker

and a playboy bartender – and it’s now

the Philippines

’ top-grossing film of all time. Filmed and set in Hong Kong, the movie stars Kathryn Bernardo as Joy and Alden Richards as Ethan, a Filipino couple who inadvertently fall for each another while chasing their dreams and trying to make ends meet in the city.

‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’ stars Kathryn Bernardo as Joy and Alden Richards as Ethan. Photo: YouTube

Since its July 31 release, the film has earned more than US$44.8 million worldwide. Besides the Philippines, Hello, Love, Goodbye has also become the

highest-grossing Philippine film

in Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

In the Southeast Asian nation, 10 million people – a tenth of the population – work abroad, searching for better pay and opportunities to support their families. These overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) send home up to US$31 billion every year, roughly 10 per cent of the nation’s GDP, according to a 2018 National Geographic report.

Toni Magsaysay, a Manila-based graphic designer in her 20s who did her bachelor’s thesis on the lives of OFWs, said many Filipinos would be able to relate to the film.

“Many families have relatives working overseas,” she said. “They know the sacrifices made by each end. But at the same time, they do not entirely share all of the hardships from both sides, as to not make both sides worry too much.

While many OFWs are nurses, engineers and ship workers, Magsaysay adds that the majority are domestic workers.

Hong Kong, which employs 213,000 Filipinos as domestic workers according to 2019 statistics, is one of the top destinations for OFWs. E.J.R. David, a Filipino-American professor who teaches cross-cultural psychology at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, said many Filipinos see more opportunities in the likes of Hong Kong and Singapore than they do at home.

“In addition to featuring the plight of overseas domestic workers, which many folks can relate with, [Hello, Love, Goodbye] also tackles issues that are more universal like love, family, individuality, responsibility, and how they are all intertwined,” he said.

“Many of us can relate to these universal themes, because many of us in the diaspora are constantly trying our best to navigate this delicately tangled web of in our lives.”

David said that while the film was popular among Filipinos because it gave them a glimpse of what their loved ones might be going through, OFWs themselves would also find it powerful because they would “finally feel seen and appreciated when they are often regarded as invisible in their daily work”.

Hello, Love, Goodbye also breaks down stereotypes surrounding OFWs, according to Eian John Pascua, a graphic designer and fan of the film who is based in the Philippines. He said OFWs are often assumed to be earning a significantly higher amount of money, and are therefore expected to foot the bill for their families when it comes to items like new cellphones or shoes.

“That was one of the issues discussed subtly in the movie, when Joy’s siblings were asking if she could buy them stuff that was a bit pricey,” Pascua said.

For graphic designer Magsaysay, the film was also realistic in its depiction of the more gritty aspects of being a domestic worker living in Hong Kong. She cites a scene in which the characters picnic in crowded Victoria Park on their day off. “I remember my sister, who once lived in Hong Kong for a teaching job, telling me, ‘How they sit on cardboard [in the park] is really real’ when we watched the movie together.”

Due to their sacrifices, OFWs are often regarded as modern day heroes by their families, said David, the academic. “The country recognizes that it is largely dependent on the money that overseas Filipino workers send back,” he said, adding that research suggests more than a third of the Philippines’ population receives money from relatives working abroad.

David also points out the problem with many Filipinos having to part from their families just to survive.

“It is unfortunate the Philippines as a country has become dependent on this sacrifice, [that its] largest export is its people [and] providing for their family means having to leave them behind,” he said. “It’s a sad life when you realize that in order for your family to survive, then you need to serve others.”

...the Fox's first pinoy movie

FOX makes first Filipino film

FOX Networks Group (FNG) Philippines produces its very first film, the horror-thriller Maledicto, which rolls into cinemas nationwide on May 1

Nathalie Tomada

Philippine Star

16 March 2019

MANILA, Philippines — FOX, home to hit series and Hollywood movies, makes its first foray into the Filipino movie-making industry.

FOX Networks Group (FNG) Philippines produces its very first film, the horror-thriller Maledicto, which rolls into cinemas nationwide on May 1.

According to the film’s description, Maledicto tells the story of Fr. Xavi (played by Tom Rodriguez), a former psychologist who becomes an exorcist after the tragic and mysterious death of his sister, Mara (Inah de Belen). He meets Sr. Barbie (played by Jasmine Curtis-Smith), a young nun who has the special gift of charism. Together, they deal with the case of Agnes (Miles Ocampo), a seemingly perfect teenager who starts manifesting demonic behavior that will rock the foundations of the church and put one’s faith to test.

The film is co-produced by Cignal Entertainment and Unitel, with ABS-CBN Films tapped as distributor. Maledicto is directed by Mark Meily.

In a roundtable media interview last Thursday, Jude Turcuato, senior vice president and general manager of FNG Philippines, expressed his excitement over their pioneering film venture, which he said is a result of thorough planning. They spent at least two years on studying nearly 100 scripts and pitches before going for Maledicto. They started filming the original production in March 2018. The movie is now “99 percent complete.”