Here are some celebrities in this year's Metro Manila Film Festival entries that deserve a second look.
Mylene Dizon (Uninvited)
Noticeably absent from Uninvited’s grand press launch event up until the parade of the stars of this MMFF movie, It was a more than pleasant surprise to watch the talented Mylene Dizon enter the scene. As one of the country’s busiest character actresses, Mylene has long convinced us that she can give justice to any role given to her, no matter how big or small. On TV, she recently played the role of Piolo Pascual’s wife in Pamilya Sagrado and now in Uninvited, she is the literal better half to filthy rich businessman Aga Muhlach and she is not shy about showing just how much she loathes and enjoys being part of her husband’s rich friends.
Alessandra de Rossi (Green Bones)
Also nowhere to be seen in her film’s press conferences as well as other promotional events like the MMFF Gabi ng Parangal, Fil-Italian actress Alessandra de Rossi is definitely worth watching in her scenes alongside MMFF Best Actor awardee Dennis Trillo where she plays the role of his closest and most trusted friends in the dramatic film. As with all her projects, Alessandra makes her mark in the scenes she has and gives her character the depth which makes anybody sharing a scene with her shine even more.
Cedrick Juan (The Kingdom)
Last year’s MMFF Best Actor awardee for the film GomBurZa where he played the role of father Jose Burgos, theater and film actor Cedrick Juan returns to the festival this year in another serious project. This time, Cedrick plays the role of the young king Makisig Nandula (played later on by Vic Sotto) in the epic film that depicts an alternate universe where it poses the possibility of what would the Philippines be like if it had never been colonized.
Jairus Aquino (Hold Me Close)
Having grown up in front of the cameras after getting into acting at the age of seven, Jairus Aquino continues to show just how seasoned an actor he already is at 25 in his role as Julia Barretto’s overprotective younger brother Tantan in the MMFF romantic drama Hold Me Close. The Viva Films project also showcases Jairus’s other abilities as he also shares camera operator credit in this film which was shot entirely in Kyushu, Japan.
Raf Pineda (Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital)
Content creator Raf Pineda only started acting in the big screen this year, starting with Guilty Pleasure and now in thr country’s first horror flick to be shot in found footage format, Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital. He plays himself in the meta storyline where he and a group of other celebrities visit the most haunted place in Taiwan with the goal of live streaming to make it go viral. In the film, Raf delivers his dialogue flawlessly and is a breath of fresh air among his teammates which are composed of Jane De Leon, Rob Gomez, Alexa Miro, MJ Lastimosa, Ryan "Zarckaroo" Azurin, and Enrique Gil.