 |
| Lilet Never Happened |
The movie, entirely shot in Manila, centered on the plight
of Lilet, a 15-year-old maladjusted Filipino-American street-girl who is
prostituted by her mother and stepfather.
“Once upon a time there was a girl in the Philippines named
Snow White. But one day, her mother and stepfather made her eat a poisoned
apple,” opened the film trailers. Lilet aptly depicts the malady that forces
helpless families to drive their family members to unheard-of
activities—including prostituting their own children.
International social worker Claire entered the scene on a
bid to rescue the young girl to safety but her efforts proved fruitless. Though
Lilet was given many opportunities to redeem herself, she stubbornly chose the
hard way. The film is based on interviews with Lilet, a little girl, who became
Manila’s most famous child prostitute (liletneverhappened.com).
The blog Rheaongyiu.com
writes: "It has truly captured the real picture of poverty in the
Philippines and how this practice of pimping children to rich men has become a
culture that is so sad, yet so real."In his interview with Philippine Star, the film’s director Jacco Grown was “very happy to see that there are a lot of young people watching the film.”
“Lilet Never Happened is made for the younger audience, you
need to reach the new generation who will say enough is enough, we cannot
accept this anymore in a society that we call civilized. With this movie we
really hope to raise awareness about the sad reality of child prostitutes not
only in the Philippines, but all over the world,” he continued.
Sandy Talag convincingly portrayed Lilet’s character. She
was already featured in the movies Bahay
kubo: A Pinoy mano po! and Seance.
Completing the cast were seasoned actor John Arcilla, Marife
Necesito and Dutch actress Johanna Ter Steege.
The film already competed in over 22 international film
festivals last 2012, including the Warsaw International Film Festival (Poland),
International Film Festival India, Moscow International Film Festival, Zlin
Film Festival for Children and Youth (Czech Republic), Zanzibar International
Film Festival (Tanzania) and the Kristiansand International Youth Film Festival
(Norway), where it also won the prize for Best Youth film 2013.
Lilet Never Happened is
set to hit local cinemas this December.
Watch the trailer here:
0 comments:
Post a Comment