Pinoy Sunday, a film about Filipino workers in Taiwan, will be released tomorrow ( 7 May). Forumosa is listed as one of the sponsors on the website. I’m surprised there hasn’t been some promotion of it on Forumosa.
Here’s a link to the trailer: youtube.com/watch?v=EbDGLmudVM0
Cheers, wix. Thank you for posting about this
Actually, the film is about “two guys who happen to be Filipino workers in Taiwan” – it’s not about OFWs per se.
There’s more news to post up on the Pinoy Sunday blog and here. Vieshow (the old Warner Village) has told told us they plan to up the number of screenings per day from 3 to 5 - so now there are 2 places to watch the film in Taipei (plus 4 theatres down south in Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Chungli).
We’ll also show the trailer at the Urban Nomad 2010 Awards ceremony tomorrow (Thank you, Dave!) My buddy - movie director Wi-ding Ho - has been making the rounds on local radio.
Coolest story so far is how an article in POTS talked about the resistance we encountered from many theatre owners in Taipei who didn’t want to see “those people” (OFWs) in their lobbies. This so outraged POTS readers that we apparently saw a burst of ticket sales!
Local press stories are being tracked on the movie’s Chinese blog: pinoysunday.pixnet.net/blog
We’ve already got tickets for this Sunday, woohoo! :discodance:
Is the film in English, Tagalog or Chinese/Taiwanese?
Subtitles for the Tagalog impaired?
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Is the film in English, Tagalog or Chinese/Taiwanese?
Subtitles for the Tagalog impaired?[/quote]
The film is primarily in Tagalog - over 90%. There are Mandarin and English subtitles. There is a little bit of Mandarin and Hokkien, and a scene in Illongo - the language is discussed here: pinoysunday.com/interview-with-t … y-on-icrt/
Check it out - our project has been parodied on Quánmín Zuìdà Dǎng (全民最大黨)! 
Goose Egg, unfortunately it’s not showing in Taichung, but I might go to Taipei or Kaohsiung to see it. It’s a shame that Taiwanese filmmakers have to go through such a struggle just to get their films shown while crappy Hollywood films get released on dozens of screens.
There is a list of theatres screening the movie at pinoysunday.pixnet.net/blog/post/6207639 (Chinese language)
Bit of press:
Taiwan Today
taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=101901&ctNode=445
Taipei Times - bit more on the difficulties in making this movie
taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar … 2003472340
i want to watch this movie but it’s not available in my city 
wah.
Saw it tonight – recommended! :bravo: We enjoyed it very much. Great job, Gus (and all involved)!
Some have expressed that they’re not interested in a film about Filipino workers in Taiwan, but that’s not really what it is. I’d rather characterize it as an amusing and informative film which I think a broad audience will enjoy; it shows a side of life in Taiwan which most people don’t see, and it is as much about human character, optimism, friendship and perseverance as anything. It is fresh, refreshingly non-commercial, and definitely entertaining.
I do recommend that everyone get down to Taibei Guangdian (aka Spot — Taipei Film House; 台北光點) or Xinyi Warner (aka Vie Show Cinemas Xinyi; 信義威秀影城) to see this ASAP, and tell your friends about it as well.
Pretty cool even one mainstream place is showing it anyway.
Thanks for all the kind words.
Btw, I need to clarify that only the screenings in Taipei have English subtitles. Those outside of Taipei only have Chinese subtitles. I’ll update the movie website about that.
And none of them are going to be dubbed, I hope! BTW, I was really pleased with the quality of the acting, especially that by the four Filipino leads. Really top notch!
Actually, I believe we are making a version dubbed in [wikipedia]Min Nan[/wikipedia] for the GIO. It is apparently one of the conditions of their grant. This isn’t a problem at all - what the issue was that it was not made explicit upfront. Only after we delivered them their copies of the film did someone (note: not part of the original selection process last year) ask, “Uh, how come this is in Pilipino?” Apparently, the selection panel was made up of internal GIO people and external advisors – all of whom are creative talents in their own right. The people we delivered to were administrative people (management, basically). I believe this is where the confusion came from.
I do not know if/when we will have to screen the Taiwanese-dubbed version. Again, I’m pretty sure we would have easily agreed to it had it come up in the beginning. It just means additional cost and a couple of weeks of time – and I do not think it delayed our world premiere at the Golden Horse or our theatrical release in Taiwan.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]BTW, I was really pleased with the quality of the acting, especially that by the four Filipino leads. Really top notch![/quote]Yes, I only met the two leads once (on the day they were filming at Jen-Ai Circle) and Wi-ding has told me that throughout the entire process, they were all very professional and really wonderful to work with. Epy, in particular, was very easy to communicate with about what moods and emotions Wi-ding wanted to convey. A real natural, apparently.
It has been mentioned a few times in interviews that Epy and Bayani were not the original leads we were casting. Two years ago, we had a different Philippine producer and they were focused on a different actor. We ran into trouble trying to nail down terms with both our producer and that actor’s agent. We had actually begun pre-production in Taipei before contracts were signed with both, and that was a fatal mistake. We ended up not being able to agree, and almost canceling the entire project altogether.
This was November 2008, and Wi-ding and I met in Taipei to decide if the project could continue. He’d been trying to get this done since 2005, and he wasn’t going to do it half-assed with so much compromising (which was working what the first Philippine producer and the original lead actor seemed to entail). I didn’t mind the delay, since I hadn’t actually transfered any cash yet - Wi-ding was great about being very mindful of the investors. By calling a halt, he earned a lot of respect from me.
We set a deadline to find a new Philippine producer by CNY 2009. And did we - Mark Meily is a very experienced and very accomplished director in Philippine cinema. Unwittingly, I first met him the week his movie “Baler” swept the Metro Manila film festival that year (and of course, I was oblivious to that fact) but getting him on board was key to reaching Epy, Alex and Merryl. I think Merryl was actually at the Tribeca film festival at that time, or some other festival in New York. We had been talking to Bayani already, I think we originally had cast him in what became Epy’s role. Unlike the first time around, their attitude, enthusiasm, and strong interest were so different.
It’s hard to overstate how important it was to have the right people nailed down. It wasn’t just that Mark was well-known in the industry, so he could open more doors. That wasn’t really the problem to begin with. It was the quality of communication that transpired between Mark and Wi-ding. Filmmaking in the Philippines and Taiwan has many differences - contracts, expectations - but these two were able to connect and agree very quickly on a range of things that were needed on the Philippine-side. Mark understood who and what Wi-ding needed without as much discussion as the first time, so WI-ding’s few trips to Manila for casting were more efficient and meaningful.
Can’t say enough good things about Mark. He has a long list of accomplishments, but one of the more recent things he has done is adapt the Camera Cafe TV Show from France into a Filipino setting. His firm – Spark Films – won the contract for the Philippine market and has won awards and recognition for it, among many other things. Looking at the Wikipedia entry, I can see that Epy and Alex’s sister were part of that show 
Well, you have to keep that sponsor happy, of course. But so much authenticity and flavor would be lost with dubbing. Of course you lose the original voices and emotions of the actors, but also part of the cultural content of the film. Part of the enjoyment of any foreign film, and definitely this one, is listening to the language of the actors. I found it very interesting, listening to the rhythm, the pitch, and the sprinkling of Spanish and English mixed into the language. It wouldn’t have sounded right if dubbed, and it wouldn’t have brought the viewer as fully into the Filipino subculture and Filipino experience in Taibei.
That was so funny I forgot to laugh. Seriously…WTF?
please can someone tell me if I need to buy tickets in advance or can i buy over the counter? i don’t live in taipei and the website won’t let me buy a ticket for the weekend…
help please! tulong naman dyan o!
We were selling advance ticket vouchers only for SPOT - they have their own policy and pricing. But normally, you can buy movie tickets just like any other movie - at the box office. You can also buy them at the box office at SPOT, too.
Outside Taipei, you can watch the movie at these theaters:
Zhongli SBS cinemas 中壢星僑國際影城
sbc-cinemas.com.tw/locations … /maps.html
桃園縣中壢市中園路二段509號 電話：09-468-0100
YUNLIN: 斗六中華影城
雲林縣斗六市雲林路2段19號 05-535-4828
tnyn.com/PE0097.HTM
KAOHSIUNG: 鳳山東亞戲院
高雄縣鳳山市立志街160-1 號 電話：07-746-2511
tonya.com.tw/sublistcomp0.as … B3q&snum=0
TAINAN: 台南國賓影城
地址：台南市中華東路一段66/88號
電話：06-234-7166
ambassador.com.tw/homepage.aspx
It’s gonna take me a while to translate this one. It’s in Hokkien. If anyone can help me transcribe it into Mandarin, please contact me.
Cheers,
gus (at) forumosa.com
Thanks Goose Egg!
I’m sorry I’m so kulit but I really don’t want to go all the way to Taipei and be told I can’t watch because I didn’t purchase tickets in advance and “mei banfa”…
Can’t wait to see this…
I wonder who your first choice was - Michael V? And why not Mark Meily’s comedian brother Bearwin? He’s funny!
Thanks again!!