by: Wenzy Ebue & Sofia Baldonado
Acclaimed for its creative storytelling and outstanding filmmaking since 2019, Gulaman Entertainment (GE) will launch a film titled “Brownout” on Wednesday, November 1.
Brownout is a parody film of the movie “The Nun,” which prequels to the hit horror franchise of “The Conjuring” series.
From the title itself, the film features a sudden power outage that leaves a sleepy village in the dark, creating the conditions for a startling sequence of unsettling events that test the limits of reality and imagination.
In an interview with Mark Asuncion, one of the directors of Brownout, he shared some details about the thrilling scenes of the film, including its pre-production process, highlighting that the conceptualization of the film only started in a single room together with his co-director, Zarrina Fernandez.
“Tapos nag-start din talaga ‘yang ‘brownout’ with Roman Badiable (production manager) and Emman Badiable (actor). Like nasa kwarto lang kami, and we [were] [conceptualizing] a film, then we pitched it to Direk Zarrina,” the co-director explained.
Furthermore, Asuncion also revealed that he had never done parody films before, which led his friends to motivate him to produce the said film.
“Ayun, dun na nag-start, I [sought] help [from] Direk Pat (Pat Sarmiento). Tinulungan niya ako magsulat ng ‘Brownout’ and ‘yung pinsan ko na si Kaye Ngitngit [‘yung tumulong naman] sa ending ng ‘Brownout,’” he explained.
The film’s production team is composed of passionate student-artists from Emilio Aguinaldo College, Far Eastern University-Cavite, and De La Salle University-Dasmariñas who have already received awards from different film festivals around Cavite.
Gulaman Entertainment aims to provide quality and valuable films to the Filipino film Industry, but behind this, their most-awaited parody film also faced struggles.
“Let’s face it, ‘pag mag-fi-film kasi kailangan mo talaga ng budget… You have to feed people na kasama mo sa set,” the co-director shared.
“Di naman ako nag-ha-hangad ng may awards, hindi naman siya katulad ng ‘Oven’ or ng ‘Mula sa Retaso’, so It’s okay. Siguro expectations ko lang ay may matawa,” he added.
Asuncion’s documentary film “Mula Sa Retaso” was the grand champion of the Paru-Paru Festival 2020, while his entry “Oven” also won for the AVP Making Contest in 2021.
Given that Gulaman Entertainment’s tradition every Halloween is to create comedic films, Asuncion hopes to satisfy their viewers once again saying, “Sana ma-enjoy niyo, sana ma-enjoy ng mga taong makakanood [ng] ‘Brownout,’”
The said parody film will be released on the official Facebook page of Gulaman Entertainment: https://www.facebook.com/GulamanEntertainment
