JUST A THOUGHT: “Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.” – 14th Dalai Lama
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JOEM BASCON IN CENTER: Joem Bascon is what you may call a reluctant lead actor. He downplays the leading man role he plays in Oro, one of eight films competing in this year’s MMFF.
‘It’s an ensemble cast, really,’ he describes his major participation in the film directed by Alvin Yapan.
Joem says he’s hesitant to consider himself a lead star, afraid of the pressure the tag imposes on his shoulders. ‘I am content playing character roles,’ he says shyly.
If there’s one plus he values most about doing Oro, it is the fact that he has helped provide a voice to the victims of a massacre that killed four miners in a remote mining town in Caramoan, Camarines Sur a few years ago.
The film is based on a true story.
‘We hope that the film will raise greater awareness on the injustice committed against innocent people,’ he says.
Joem has created his own path to stardom by starring in a string of independently produced movies side by side his regular appearances on ABS-CBN teleseryes.
In 2016 alone, he acted in seven movies coming from both mainstream and indie sectors. He hopes the time will come when audiences will no longer distinguish one from the other and consider all films as film.
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ORO STORYLINE: A community of miners is infiltrated by an armed group masquerading as environmentalists. Their woman barangay captain will be forced to fight for their right to keep their livelihood.
The story centers on the efforts of their barangay captain (Irma Adlawan) to secure a permit allowing them to keep their livelihood in mining. In the meantime, the lives of Elmer and Linda who are planning to get married (Joem Bascon and Mercedes Cabral) and their fellow miners (Sandino Martin, Sue Prado, Biboy Ramirez) will be put in danger as the armed group (Arrian Labios, Cedrick Juan) takes over the mining operations and establishes a reign of terror in this remote island that the miners have long considered their home. (NESTOR CUARTERO)