Filipino actor Mon Confiado poses with Stateside co-star American actress Olivia Hultgren during a cocktail party at the Mia Jee Tandoori restaurant at 205 S Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles shortly after the movie’s screening. Photo: Abner Galino
Challenging is an understatement when used to describe producing a film here in Los Angeles where, as we all know, the legendary Hollywood is situated.
So, more than a year after the makers, the crew and the cast of the movie “Stateside” held a press conference to announce the then impending screening of their movie, it was only last November 18 when it finally got a screening at the Raleigh Studios on Melrose St. in Hollywood.
Director Marcial Chavez said that during the long lull, many of their shots were ruined, prompting them to make adjustments with their storyline.
Filipino actor Mon Confiado confided that he also partly caused the delay as he had to finish his other commitments before he was able to come back to the US to shoot the remaining scenes.
“But I am happy now that we were able to do the screening. It is really an honor and achievement to be part of this movie,” Confiado said.
Chavez said that in reconstructing the film, he opted to bring more drama rather than action into it.
“Mon is a good actor and he was able to deliver what we wanted,” Chavez said.
Stateside is a movie that attempts to tell a story of an undocumented immigrant without the politics that ordinarily surround the issue.
The main character, Andrew, figured in a series of unfortunate incidents that landed him in the city’s homeless area, better known here as the Skid Row. He eventually found love in the character played by American actress Olivia Hultgren.
Hultgren provided a refreshing ambience to the film with her pretty face and charming blue eyes, and of course, with her convincing acting.
Commenting on the movie; Hultgren said the movie is for people looking for “a tale of hope.”
“If you are in a place where you feel discouraged, this should give you hope,” Hultgren said.
Producer Francisco Fabiculanan said Filipino American would still have to yet a little more to see “Stateside” on regular theaters.
“We would be submitting it to a couple of film festivals here, and afterwards, we would start planning for its release,” Fabiculanan said.
In the Filipino context, Stateside means the “best of all imports.” The word apparently evolved in the Philippines when there were still an abundance of products that carried “made in USA” tags.
“Stateside ‘yan,” was often said to stress that a product was made in the USA and therefore, superior to other products made somewhere else. The borrowed word lost its luster when American companies began manufacturing products in China.